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CNN Sunday Morning
Interview With Dutch Ruppersberger
Aired December 21, 2003 - 08:12 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, if you've been moved to do something for U.S. servicemen and women, but aren't sure what to do, your frequent flier miles could be the ticket. And here to tell us more about Operation Hero Miles is Congressman Ruppersberger. He's of Maryland. He's with us this morning.
Thanks for joining us today.
REP. DUTCH RUPPERSBERGER (D), MARYLAND: Fine to be here.
CALLAWAY: Tell us about this program and how it can help our servicemen come home for a little R&R.
RUPPERSBERGER: OK. Well, I represent Maryland's 2nd Congressional District that has BWI Airport. And I went to welcome the troops home about seven weeks ago. And asked them, "What can we do to help, you sacrificing your lives on our behalf?" And a lot of them complained that after they were dropped off at Baltimore- Washington International Airport they had pay their own way home.
And I'm thinking, this is outrageous. We're trying to help troops, and they're putting their lives on the line for us. So we developed a program called Operation Hero Miles.
CALLAWAY: And tell me how many miles have been donated so far.
RUPPERSBERGER: Well, so far, what we do is that we go to the airlines and ask them to let us market their frequent flier customers.
CALLAWAY: Right.
RUPPERSBERGER: And they then go to our Web page or go to the airlines directly. And they put in their -- as many frequent flier miles as they want so that the troops can come home for free. So far, we have right now over 290 million frequent flier miles that have been donated just in seven weeks. And it's great.
CALLAWAY: That is amazing to me. Actually, it's amazing that you got all of the airlines to agree to anything. Every airline is doing the program differently, right?
RUPPERSBERGER: Well, almost. They all come together. It's such an easy program, because all you do is go to the Web page -- it gives you instructions -- you put in your number based on the airline that you have your frequent flier miles. That goes directly to the airlines. They batch the frequent flier miles, it goes right to Kuwait, which is a staging area where the troops come home. And the troops come home for free. So far, we've been able to give the troops over 11,000 round-trip tickets. And our goal is to keep the frequent flier miles coming so all of our troops can come home for free.
CALLAWAY: Right. And who decides who gets to use these miles? Who's administering them?
RUPPERSBERGER: That's the Army over in Kuwait. Anyone who comes home from Afghanistan or Iraq goes to Kuwait, and then they're given the frequent flier miles on a first come, first served basis.
CALLAWAY: Did you think that it would be this successful when you thought about it about eight weeks ago?
RUPPERSBERGER: Well, we tried to find a way to help troops. And our staff came up with this idea. No, I did not think it would be successful. And it keeps growing and growing every week. And it goes to show you how patriotic our Americans are and that we want to try to find a way to help.
And a lot of people don't know how to help the troops. But this is a way, and as long as we can keep getting the message out, the program will grow. Remember it's for the troops.
CALLAWAY: Tell us again for those who are watching right now and they're in that holiday mood to be generous how they can help our troops over there. How can they donate their frequent flier miles?
RUPPERSBERGER: They can go to www.heromiles.org or go to their airline and just donate as many frequent flier miles as they would like to donate. It's for the troops, that's what's so important.
CALLAWAY: It is an amazing program that you've started. And once again, it's great that the airlines have agreed to this and it's been so successful.
Representative Dutch Ruppersberger, thank you for being with us this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 21, 2003 - 08:12 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, if you've been moved to do something for U.S. servicemen and women, but aren't sure what to do, your frequent flier miles could be the ticket. And here to tell us more about Operation Hero Miles is Congressman Ruppersberger. He's of Maryland. He's with us this morning.
Thanks for joining us today.
REP. DUTCH RUPPERSBERGER (D), MARYLAND: Fine to be here.
CALLAWAY: Tell us about this program and how it can help our servicemen come home for a little R&R.
RUPPERSBERGER: OK. Well, I represent Maryland's 2nd Congressional District that has BWI Airport. And I went to welcome the troops home about seven weeks ago. And asked them, "What can we do to help, you sacrificing your lives on our behalf?" And a lot of them complained that after they were dropped off at Baltimore- Washington International Airport they had pay their own way home.
And I'm thinking, this is outrageous. We're trying to help troops, and they're putting their lives on the line for us. So we developed a program called Operation Hero Miles.
CALLAWAY: And tell me how many miles have been donated so far.
RUPPERSBERGER: Well, so far, what we do is that we go to the airlines and ask them to let us market their frequent flier customers.
CALLAWAY: Right.
RUPPERSBERGER: And they then go to our Web page or go to the airlines directly. And they put in their -- as many frequent flier miles as they want so that the troops can come home for free. So far, we have right now over 290 million frequent flier miles that have been donated just in seven weeks. And it's great.
CALLAWAY: That is amazing to me. Actually, it's amazing that you got all of the airlines to agree to anything. Every airline is doing the program differently, right?
RUPPERSBERGER: Well, almost. They all come together. It's such an easy program, because all you do is go to the Web page -- it gives you instructions -- you put in your number based on the airline that you have your frequent flier miles. That goes directly to the airlines. They batch the frequent flier miles, it goes right to Kuwait, which is a staging area where the troops come home. And the troops come home for free. So far, we've been able to give the troops over 11,000 round-trip tickets. And our goal is to keep the frequent flier miles coming so all of our troops can come home for free.
CALLAWAY: Right. And who decides who gets to use these miles? Who's administering them?
RUPPERSBERGER: That's the Army over in Kuwait. Anyone who comes home from Afghanistan or Iraq goes to Kuwait, and then they're given the frequent flier miles on a first come, first served basis.
CALLAWAY: Did you think that it would be this successful when you thought about it about eight weeks ago?
RUPPERSBERGER: Well, we tried to find a way to help troops. And our staff came up with this idea. No, I did not think it would be successful. And it keeps growing and growing every week. And it goes to show you how patriotic our Americans are and that we want to try to find a way to help.
And a lot of people don't know how to help the troops. But this is a way, and as long as we can keep getting the message out, the program will grow. Remember it's for the troops.
CALLAWAY: Tell us again for those who are watching right now and they're in that holiday mood to be generous how they can help our troops over there. How can they donate their frequent flier miles?
RUPPERSBERGER: They can go to www.heromiles.org or go to their airline and just donate as many frequent flier miles as they would like to donate. It's for the troops, that's what's so important.
CALLAWAY: It is an amazing program that you've started. And once again, it's great that the airlines have agreed to this and it's been so successful.
Representative Dutch Ruppersberger, thank you for being with us this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
