Questions
What does it cost the veteran for a flight?
Veterans pay nothing for these trips, its our pleasure to offer our veterans this experience to travel to their memorial at No Cost. Airfare, lodging, meals, and ground transportation cost are covered by generous donations to the UHF program by private and corporate donors.
Can my spouse/significant other be my guardian?
Utah Honor Flight Board of Directors considered many factors when deciding whether to maintain our no-spouse policy for our Veterans, given that the age of the spouse in many cases is no longer the biggest factor. Ultimately, our board decided to keep the policy due to several important reasons.
Primarily, our guardians are essential in assisting with carrying luggage, loading and unloading wheelchairs, and performing various duties on the flight. We believe our Veterans deserve to sit back and be honored without having to worry about these tasks, which they may not want their spouses to handle.
Additionally, we feel that Veterans may not interact as much with other Veterans if their spouses are present. We believe that the greatest healing and camaraderie come from these interactions among fellow Veterans on the flights.
We unanimously agree that this policy is vital to our program’s success. While we deeply respect the role spouses play during deployment and war, our program is specifically designed to honor the Veterans.
Guardians need to be over 18, in good physical condition, and able to meet the Veterans needs. We can assign a volunteer guardian if needed.
Thank you for understanding our policy and supporting our mission to honor our Veterans.
Do I need to bring a wheelchair?
No, UHF well see to it that wheel chairs will be available to our veterans for the entire trip.
How do sponsored flights work with the "first come, first serve" policy?
In accordance with the national HFN policy, the participation or non-participation of a sponsored veterans program is at the discretion of the Utah Honor Flight Board. UHF’s Board must determine to accept or decline the offer of sponsorship.
After being approved by the UHF Board, sponsors may choose to sponsor veterans who may or may not be on the waiting list and can choose to sponsor a specific group of veterans past on demographic (ex: county sponsored flight, women only flight, etc.) The UHF Board strongly recommends that sponsors allow for at least 30% of veterans on the flight be from the current UHF Wait List.
How are Veterans selected
Veterans or a family member must submit an application. Top priority is given to WWII Veterans. Next priority will be Korean War Veterans, then Vietnam veterans and continue in chronological order of conflicts. Anyone (male or female) serving on active duty ANYWHERE at ANY TIME during the below dates is a veteran of the war/conflict:
WWII: December 7, 1941- December 31, 1946
Cold War Dec 1946 – Dec 26, 1991
Korean War: June 25, 1950 – January 31, 1955
Vietnam War: February 28, 1961 – May 7, 1975
Lebanon/Grenada: August 24, 1982 – July 31, 1984
Panama: December 20, 1989 – January 31, 1990
Gulf War/War on Terrorism: August 2, 1990 – Present