{"id":1052,"date":"2016-09-03T18:38:18","date_gmt":"2016-09-03T18:38:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/thetravelingmillennial\/?p=1052"},"modified":"2016-09-24T02:17:40","modified_gmt":"2016-09-24T02:17:40","slug":"can-ncaa-athletes-earn-frequent-flier-miles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/thetravelingmillennial\/2016\/09\/03\/can-ncaa-athletes-earn-frequent-flier-miles\/","title":{"rendered":"Can NCAA D1 Football Players Earn Frequent Flier Miles?"},"content":{"rendered":"

University of Michigan — The Big House<\/em><\/p>\n

You may have heard that the Hawaii\u00a0men’s football team will fly over 50,000\u00a0miles miles this season, which has already featured\u00a0travel from Hawaii to Australia to Ann Arbor, Michigan for its first two football games. \u00a050,000 miles is enough to earn a mid-tier elite status on the major airlines–Hawaiian Airlines only requires 40,000 miles for its top-tier Pualani Platinum status–but are NCAA athletes PERMITTED\u00a0to earn frequent flier miles? \u00a0If so, do the universities PERMIT the students to earn miles? \u00a0One of these answers is easy and other\u00a0is nuanced.<\/p>\n

NCAA Rules<\/span><\/h3>\n

Despite a ban on compensation for performance, the NCAA explicitly allows Division I athletes to earn\u00a0frequent flier miles:<\/p>\n

16.11.1.7 Miscellaneous Benefits. [A] An institution may<\/span> provide or arrange for the following benefits for a student-athlete: <\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0(a) The use of a return ticket at any time after the conclusion of a foreign tour; <\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0<\/em> \u00a0<\/em>(b) Receipt of frequent flier points and\/or miles earned while traveling to and from intercollegiate practice and\/or competition; <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0(c) Participation in receptions and festivities associated with championships, conference tournaments or allstar events hosted by and conducted on the institution\u2019s campus; <\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0(d) Occasional meals to team members provided by a student-athlete\u2019s family member at any location; <\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0(e) Telephone calls in emergency situations as approved by the director of athletics (or his or her designee);<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0(f) Reasonable tokens of support and transportation, housing and meal expenses in the event of injury, illness, or death of a family member or another student-athlete; <\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0(g) Fundraisers for student-athletes (or their family members) under the following extreme circumstances: (1) Extreme circumstances should be extraordinary in the result of events beyond the student-athlete\u2019s control (e.g., life-threatening illness, natural disaster); (2) The proceeds must be designated for a specific purpose (e.g., payment of medical bills, purchase of medical equipment, replacement of items lost in a fire, etc.) (3) The proceeds may be given directly to the beneficiaries, with receipt kept on file by the institution, which must include the amount of expenses incurred and the total amount received; and (4) The excess proceeds must be given to a not-for-profit organization with the receipt kept on file by the institution. <\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0(h) The payment of admission costs or a meal for any student-athlete being honored at a nonathletics awards ceremony.<\/em><\/p>\n

The quote is pulled from the NCAA Division I Manual (Aug. 2016-17)<\/a>. \u00a0This excerpt also illustrates the extent of the NCAA’s arbitrary compensation rules. \u00a0You’ll notice that the rules specify that the institution “may” provide for frequent flier miles.<\/p>\n

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University of Michigan Crisler Area<\/em><\/p>\n

University\u00a0Rules<\/span><\/h3>\n

I could not find any universities that prohibit the receipt of frequent flier miles but certain methods of travel, widely used by universities, will not acquire frequent flier miles. \u00a0For example, chartered flights are not eligible for frequent flier miles.<\/p>\n

Hawaiian Airlines<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Hawaii men’s football team charters flights with Hawaiian Airlines<\/a>, which are not eligible for frequent flier miles unless Hawaiian Airlines decides otherwise.<\/p>\n

“1. Miles will not be credited for travel on Mileage Awards or discounted travel industry related tickets, airline employee\/family\/infant tickets, or tickets on charter flights. Hawaiian Airlines may, at its discretion, allow miles to be earned on designated charter flights.”<\/em><\/p>\n

United Airlines<\/strong><\/p>\n

United Airlines chartered flights for 23 NCAA football teams<\/a> during the 2015-16 year:\u00a0Baylor University,\u00a0University of Colorado,\u00a0Indiana University,\u00a0Louisiana State University,\u00a0Northwestern University,\u00a0Ohio State University,\u00a0Oklahoma State University,\u00a0Penn State University,\u00a0Rutgers University,\u00a0Stanford University,\u00a0Texas A&M University,\u00a0Texas Tech University,\u00a0Tulane University,\u00a0University of California,\u00a0University of California at Los Angeles, University of Houston,\u00a0University of Maryland,\u00a0University of Nebraska,\u00a0University of Oklahoma,\u00a0University of Oregon,\u00a0University of Texas,\u00a0University of Texas at San Antonio, and\u00a0University of Southern California.<\/p>\n

MileagePlus award miles and Premier qualifying credits may not<\/span> be earned on certain United and MileagePlus partner airline tickets. These include, but are not limited to:<\/em><\/p>\n