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Most points and miles strategies, advice, and sweet spots are written with solo travelers or couples in mind. But what happens when you’re booking for a family of three, four, or more? Now, you’re juggling higher mileage requirements, multiple seats to find on the same flight, and kids’ schedules that rarely line up with the cheapest dates.
The good news is there are airline programs that make family redemptions much easier — and sometimes even with award discounts for kids. From family pooling options to programs with generous award space, you can stretch your miles further than you might think.
In this guide, we’ll highlight practical airline sweet spots for families, including ways to pool points, score discounted award tickets for kids, and book multiple seats without breaking your mileage balance.
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Air France/KLM Flying Blue
Flying Blue, the reward program for both Air France and KLM, is an amazing option for families and has several ongoing sweet spots on top of its monthly Promo Rewards.
Create a Flying Blue family account
One of the biggest benefits of the Flying Blue program is that it allows you to create a family account with two adults and up to six children. Anyone over the age of 18 can be the leader, and this person is responsible for the account.
The family account allows family members to pool points, ensuring small amounts of points don't get stuck in a child's account. In addition, it simplifies booking flights since everyone's personal information is already stored in the account.
To set up a family account, you first need to create a loyalty account for each member of your family. Once everyone has their own account, the family leader will log on and go to the Flying Blue Family page. From here, you will add each family member by entering their names and Flying Blue numbers. They will receive an invitation and must accept it to complete the process.
Related: Which Rewards Programs Allow You to Combine Points and Miles for Free?
Flying Blue sweet spots for families
Another thing we love about Flying Blue is the ability to find awards for very few points. Generally, you can find good availability for flights from most major airports in the U.S. to Europe for 25,000 miles one-way.
Not only are these low points requirements for flights, but award tickets are 25% off for kids aged 2–11. This means a family of four could fly from the U.S. to Europe for just 87,500 miles each way!
The easiest way to find these low-priced dates is to use the Flying Blue calendar search function, which can only be accessed on the website, not the app.
To make this sweet spot even better, book a route that's part of Flying Blue's current Promo Rewards.
How to earn Flying Blue miles
Thankfully, Flying Blue miles are pretty easy to come by because it's a transfer partner with almost every major credit card points system out there, plus Marriott Bonvoy. Here are your options:
Additionally, U.S.-based travelers can apply for the Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard® to boost their stash of Flying Blue miles.
Related: Do Air France–KLM Flying Blue Miles Expire?
Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines has made some major changes recently, from taking away free bags to moving toward assigned seats. There's a lot going on and a whole new system to learn. Thankfully, we have you covered with how to navigate the changes. Even with these new systems in place, Southwest remains a family-friendly airline with great deals to be found.
Save on travel with a Southwest Companion Pass
The most notable factor that makes Southwest Airlines a worthwhile option for families is its Companion Pass. You can earn the Companion Pass by flying 100 flight segments or earning 135,000 points in a calendar year. The simplest way to earn those points is through welcome offers on Southwest credit cards.
Once you earn the pass, you can fly a companion for free (plus taxes and fees) on any ticket you book, as many times as you want, for the rest of the year and the entire following year. For example, if you earn the pass in September 2025, it's valid through the end of 2026.
This is great for families because each parent could potentially earn the Companion Pass and then bring a child as their companion. It's like a “buy one, get one free” deal for every flight you take, including award flights.
Rapid Rewards sweet spots for families
The Southwest Rapid Rewards program tends to have some great options for low-cost points redemptions. For example, you can fly from Los Angeles (LAX) to Honolulu (HNL) from only 9,500 points per person one-way. For a family of four, this comes out to just 38,000 points each way. If you have one or two Companion Passes, this cost is even lower.
Here's another example: You could fly from Chicago-Midway (MDW) to Cancun, Mexico (CUN) to escape the cold winter weather for just 9,000 points per person per way. For a family of four, this is only 36,000 points each way.
Another thing we love about Southwest is its Low Fare Calendar, which lets you see a whole month at a time. This helps narrow down which days have the cheapest flights on points, helping families find sweet spots on dates that work for them.
Furthermore, if Southwest runs a sale and the price of your ticket goes down, you can change your ticket to the new price and get the extra points or cash refunded, as long as you didn't originally book a basic fare. If you did, you can cancel your ticket and rebook it at the lower price.
One thing to note for families flying Southwest: There are currently no reserved seats. You will get a boarding group when you check in 24 hours before your flight. When your boarding group is called, you will board the plane and find empty seats.
This can be a bit nerve-wracking for families, however, they allow those with children six and under to board after the A group, before the B group. I've also had success asking a gate agent if we can board with family boarding even though my youngest is eight. It doesn't hurt to ask!
All of that to say, changes are coming for flights on or after January 27th, 2026. If you book a flight on or after that day, Southwest will no longer have open seating and will instead assign seats. The cost and timing of choosing your seats depend on the ticket type you book and whether you're a Southwest cardholder.
How to earn Southwest Rapid Rewards points
You can earn Southwest points in several ways:
- Open a co-branded Southwest credit card.
- Transfer Ultimate Rewards from Chase to Southwest at a 1:1 ratio (most transfers are immediate).
- Fly on Southwest.
- Buy Southwest points, although we would only recommend doing this if there's a bonus.
- Earn 50,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- 3,000 anniversary points each year.
- Earn 2 points per $1 spent on Southwest Airlines® purchases
- Earn 2 points for every $1 you spend at gas stations and grocery stores on the first $5,000 in combined purchases per anniversary year
- Cardmembers and up to 8 additional passengers in the same reservation can check their first bag at no additional cost.
- Select a Standard seat within 48 hours prior to departure, when available.
- Earn 1 point for every $1 spent on all other purchases.
- No foreign transaction fees.
- Member FDIC
- Rates & Fees
- 2X points per $1 spent on Southwest® purchases
- 2 points for every $1 you spend at gas stations and grocery stores on the first $5,000 in combined purchases per anniversary year
- 1X point per $1 spent on all other purchases
United Airlines
United Airlines has a massive domestic and international flight network. Because of this, it's a great option for families looking for award sweet spots — both domestic and international.
United often has great award availability
One of the hardest things about booking award travel for families is finding availability. When looking for award seats, you'll find that they can be limited on each flight. Finding four, five, or more seats can be challenging. Thankfully, this isn't usually the case with United. Because there are so many flights to so many locations, award availability is typically good, especially in economy. This makes it a solid family sweet spot.
Additionally, signing up for a United credit card can unlock even more award space.
Mileage Plus sweet spots for families
United is not always the cheapest when it comes to bookings with miles, but it does have some good sweet spots for families that know where to look. United's award flights are based on dynamic pricing, meaning most routes don't have set prices. Prices can vary day to day, depending on demand and availability. However, some pricing patterns can often be found, like 15,000 miles one-way for domestic U.S. flights or 40,000 miles one-way for flights from the U.S. to Europe.
Furthermore, United lets you search using a 30-day calendar, which makes it easier to find the best deals.
For example, look at this calendar showing prices from Chicago O'Hare (ORD) to Orlando (MCO). Prices are either 20.3k or 15k. This chart can help you choose the lowest-priced days, saving you thousands of points when booking for a family.
Take a look at this example for flights from Newark (EWR) to Rome (FCO) in April 2026. Prices are all over the place, with many being the “standard” 40k, while some are higher and some are lower. There are even four days with the low price of just 27.3k. The award calendar is key for finding those cheaper dates.
In these examples, you'll notice that the lowest price is green. This is what you are looking for, as it indicates that this route has the lowest rate on that particular date. Additionally, the cheapest flights (saver awards) may be available to book with a partner airline, potentially requiring fewer miles but a bit more effort.
United's redemptions may be higher than airlines like Air France–KLM and Southwest. However, there is a lot of value in how broad United's availability can be, creating sweet spots for families who need reliability when planning around school schedules.
Related: How to Find Airline Partner Award Availability
How to earn United Mileage Plus miles
You can earn United miles in many ways, and then you can pool United miles with other family members. First, you can open a United credit card. There are four personal cards and two business cards open to new applicants.
- The New United Gateway℠ Card (Rates & Fees)
- The New United℠ Explorer Card (Rates & Fees)
- The New United Quest℠ Card (Rates & Fees)
- The New United Club℠ Card (Rates & Fees)
- The New United℠ Business Card (Rates & Fees)
- United Club℠ Business Card
Each of these cards has its own earning potential, benefits, and perks. To learn more about which card may be the best fit for you, check out our comparison of United credit cards.
- 2X miles per $1 spent on purchases from United®
- 2X miles per $1 spent on dining and hotel stays when booked with the hotel
- 1X mile per $1 spent on all other purchases
- 5 miles per $1 spent at Renowned Hotels and Resorts
- 3 miles per $1 spent on United® purchases
- 2 miles per $1 spent on all other travel
- 2 miles per $1 spent at restaurants
- 2 miles per $1 spent on select streaming services
- 1 mile per $1 spent on all other purchases
- Earn 4 miles per $1 spent on United® purchases
- Earn 2 miles per $1 spent on all other travel
- Earn 2 miles per $1 spent on dining
- Earn 1 mile per $1 spent on all other purchases
United is one of Chase Ultimate Rewards' transfer partners, which means you can transfer points at a 1:1 ratio (and most transfers are immediate). Or, earn miles by flying on United or one of its partner airlines. Finally, you can earn more miles by shopping, dining, or booking travel through United.
You can get details about all of these options and more in our complete guide to United Mileage Plus.
American Airlines
American Airlines is a family sweet spot for a variety of reasons. First, like United, it has a huge flight network with nearly 7,000 flights per day to 350 destinations in more than 50 countries. Second, it tends to have a lot of award availability, making it easy to book four or more tickets with American Airlines miles.
Additionally, AA frequently runs sales where you can find flights for as low as 5,000 miles each way. Even when they're not running sales, you can find some really great deals, especially if you book round-trip flights.
Lastly, American Airlines doesn't pass on fuel surcharges for the majority of its flights; the exception being partner flights with British Airways and Iberia. This means that most of the time, when booking American Airlines award flights, the taxes and fees are just $5.60. This can save you hundreds of dollars across multiple tickets compared to booking with a different airline that does pass on fuel surcharges.
Related: Advanced Tips for Booking AAdvantage Awards
American Airlines sweet spots
American Airlines uses dynamic pricing, which means that prices vary from day to day and route to route. However, there are some great American Airlines sweet spots to be found.
Short-haul domestic flights are as low as 6,000 AA miles per way. American Airlines has an award calendar that lets you see the lowest prices (in green) for a month at a time. In this example, you can see that a flight from Philadelphia (PHL) to Nashville (BNA) starts at just 6,000 AAdvantage miles each way.
Flights to Japan are another sweet spot with the AAdvantage program, starting at 35,000 miles each way. I recently booked my family of six from Los Angeles (LAX) to Tokyo (HND) for a total of 210,000 AA miles and just $33.60 in taxes and fees.
Here's a peek at the award calendar for that route in April 2026. As you can see, there's a good amount of availability for the low 35k price point.
Pro tip: generally speaking, the earlier you book, the better chances you have to secure lower prices and plenty of award availability.
Earning American Airlines miles
American Airlines miles can be earned by flying on American or its partners, opening co-branded credit cards, transferring from Citi, booking rental cars, shopping online through AAdvantage eShopping, and dining with the AAdvantage Dining Program.
There are six co-branded AAdvantage cards: four from Citi and two from Barclays. All six are currently open to new applicants. However, starting in 2026, Citi will be the only issuer of AAdvantage cards, so that's something to keep in mind.
Here are the card options open to new applicants:
- Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®
- Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®
- American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp® Card
- Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard®
- AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard®
As part of Citi and American Airlines' expanded partnership, you can now transfer Citi ThankYou® Points to American Airlines. For many years, American Airlines did not have any bank transfer partners, so this is an exciting development. It opens up more ways to earn valuable AA miles by opening cards that earn Citi ThankYou points, such as the Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (Rates & Fees) or Citi Strata Premier® Card (Rates & Fees).
- For a limited time, earn 80,000 bonus Points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months of account opening.
- Earn 12 Points per $1 spent on Hotels, Car Rentals, and Attractions booked on cititravel.com and 6 Points per $1 spent on Air Travel booked on cititravel.com
- Earn 6 Points per $1 spent at Restaurants including Restaurant Delivery Services on CitiNights℠ purchases, every Friday and Saturday from 6 PM to 6 AM ET. Earn 3 Points per $1 spent any other time
- Earn 1.5 Points per $1 spent on All Other Purchases
- Up to $300 Annual Hotel Benefit: Each calendar year, enjoy up to $300 off a hotel stay of two nights or more when booked through cititravel.com.
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- 12X – Earn 12 Points per $1 spent on Hotels, Car Rentals, and Attractions booked on cititravel.com.
- 6X – Earn 6 Points per $1 spent on Air Travel booked on cititravel.com.
- 6X – Earn 6 Points per $1 spent at Restaurants including Restaurant Delivery Services on CitiNights℠ purchases, every Friday and Saturday from 6 PM to 6 AM ET. Earn 3 Points per $1 spent any other time.
- 1.5X – Earn 1.5 Points per $1 spent on All Other Purchases.
This means that you have nine card options in total for earning a mountain of AA miles, along with all of the other ways we listed above.
Air Canada Aeroplan
Air Canada Aeroplan is a sneaky good program if you’re traveling with a young family, specifically with children under two. That’s because Aeroplan has one of the most generous lap infant policies of any major airline loyalty program.
On award bookings, no matter where you’re flying or which partner airline you’re on, it costs just 2,500 Aeroplan points (or $25 CAD) to add a lap infant to your reservation.
Compared to airlines that charge 10% of the cash fare or another steep amount, even on award tickets, this policy almost feels too good to be true. Whether you’re flying United from San Francisco to Singapore, or Turkish Airlines from Detroit all the way to the Greek isles via Istanbul, the cost to ticket your lap infant is always the same.
The only downside is that you can only take advantage of this perk until your child turns two — and time flies.
On the bright side, Aeroplan points are easy to earn. The Chase-issued Aeroplan® Credit Card(Rates & Fees) frequently comes with a solid welcome bonus, and Aeroplan is a transfer partner of several major credit card rewards programs.
Wrapping Up
Family travel using points will always require more thought and planning than what's required of solo travelers. However, valuable, reliable sweet spots for families do exist. Multiple airlines offer great availability, discounts for kids, low redemption rates, and other perks. Do your research, decide what works best for your family, then use these tips to book the trip.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card (Rates & Fees), The New United Gateway℠ Card (Rates & Fees), The New United℠ Explorer Card (Rates & Fees), The New United Quest℠ Card (Rates & Fees), The New United Club℠ Card (Rates & Fees), The New United℠ Business Card (Rates & Fees), Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (Rates & Fees), Citi Strata Premier® Card (Rates & Fees), and Aeroplan® Credit Card (Rates & Fees)
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