Southwest Airlines is marking 15 years of involvement with the Medical Transportation Grant Program (MTGP) by donating a further US$4 million worth of flight tickets to US hospitals and medical transportation providers this year. Through the program, those hospitals and transportation providers can give free round trip tickets to patients and their carers at a time when many are under acute emotional and financial stress.

Southwest marks 15 years of helping out hospitals with free flights

This year, the MTGP is assisting 76 grant recipients. In turn, those recipients leverage a network of over 90 hospitals and providers nationwide. Since the program began in 2007, Southwest Airlines has provided more than $42.6 million in transportation in 46 cities across 28 states. This year, to mark Southwest's 15 years of involvement with the program, the airline is also giving each hospital and transportation provider an additional 15 tickets to support other critical needs.

"Our Heart is focused on taking care of people and making life a little easier for families who are going through trying times in their lives," said Laurie Barnett, Southwest's Vice President of Communications and Outreach. "We are proud to continue providing this critical lifeline for patients and their caregivers."

Sick kids are big beneficiaries of Southwest's free flights

Via the MTGP, Southwest Airlines provides complimentary no-strings-attached flight tickets to nonprofit hospitals and medical transportation providers. The recipient list does periodically change as hospitals and other providers get added and drop off according to need. Scroll through the list of participating hospitals and medical organizations this year, and there is a big focus on pediatric hospitals, meaning sick kids and their parents are often on the receiving end of Southwest's largesse.

"The Medical Transportation Grant program has been an incredible help for our family," says one parent. "We never thought that we would have a life-threatening disease that would turn our lives upside down. Thanks to this program, we had one less thing to worry about and were able to focus on our child's health."

Southwest doesn't determine who exactly gets the tickets - they leave that up to the hospitals. Eligibility criteria varies between each one of the program's participants. However, this year's $4 million contribution equates to more than 10,000 roundtrip tickets.

Just one part of Southwest's charitable portfolio

Located in Palo Alto, California, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford is operated by Stanford Children's Health and is a dedicated pediatrics and obstetrics facility. Despite the high gloss Stanford brand, the hospital deals with lots of low-income families. Southwest Airlines has supported the hospital since 2010. Since then, 1,000 families who might not otherwise be able to afford the cost of travel to the hospital have received complimentary roundtrip tickets.

"The grant program ensures that families can focus on getting the care they need without worrying about transportation," says the hospital.

Last year, Southwest Airlines received 14,995 donation requests and distributed more than 38,936 tickets for a combined value of more than $19 million in total contributions. Southwest has a broad portfolio of charitable activities covering local giving, national giving, community outreach, and disaster response. The Medical Transportation Grant Program is just one part of Southwest's charitable activities, albeit a very worthy one.