Businessman donates frequent flyer miles so strangers can go home for the holidays

As a businessman, Peter Shankman racks up hundreds of thousands of frequent flyer miles over the year traveling across the United States and to Europe and Asia, and he's come up with a fulfilling way to use them.

Over the last four years, Shankman has donated his miles to strangers who can't afford plane tickets so they can go home for the holidays. Shankman asks interested parties to share their stories online, and other people vote for their favorites. Whoever gets the most votes wins, and so far this year, he's taken care of six travelers.

"I truly believe that, if you've had any modicum of success, you have a responsibility to 'send the elevator back down,' as it were," he told USA Today. "Giving away trips home for the holidays to people who might not be able to afford them is the best way I know how to do that. Secondly, it's a blast to teach my daughter about giving back." His frequent flyer miles are with United, and this year, the airline said it would donate 200,000 miles to the charity of Shankman's choice.

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