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In the past, points and miles were solely collected by and used in a single person's loyalty account. However, airlines and hotels have gotten more creative over the past few years, allowing points and miles to be combined — or pooled — across multiple family members or even friends.
Pooling is especially helpful for airline award programs, where each person may only have a few thousand frequent flier miles. This is the case with my four children. They each have frequent flier miles for the airlines we've flown, but they're all spread out with under 5,000 miles in each account — not enough for booking an award flight.
However, when combined across our accounts, we have enough miles for an award ticket. And with a big family, any little bit helps!
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How Points and Miles Pooling Works
Pooling is one of the easiest ways to share miles and points with others. You can redeem for awards sooner by consolidating everyone's points and miles into one account.
Most programs that allow pooling require a designated leader or head of the pool. This will be the person in charge of combining points; in some programs, this is the only person who can redeem them. Some programs require everyone in the pool to be immediate family members, while others allow anyone to join.
Programs That Allow Families To Pool Points and Miles
Like most things related to points and miles, each award program has its own rules and nuances. Here's a brief overview of some of the airlines and hotels with the simplest programs that allow points pooling.
It's important to note that we are also including programs that allow a simple points transfer, which means points are moved from one person's loyalty account to another. This varies slightly from points pooling, as the points are moved instead of combined.
Domestic airlines
- Frontier Airlines: You can add up to eight members to your Frontier Airlines pool. Members do not have to be related. However, you must accomplish one of two things to start family pooling: reach Elite Silver status or open a FRONTIER Airlines World Mastercard®.
- JetBlue TrueBlue: TrueBlue allows you to pool points with up to seven other members. You must be 21 or older to create a pool, and pool members do not have to be related to each other. Once you join a pool, 100% of your points are added to that pool.
- Spirit Airlines Free Spirit: Similar to Frontier, Spirit allows points pooling if the Pool Pilot (the one creating the pool) has Free Spirit Silver or Gold status or holds a Spirit Airlines co-branded card like the Free Spirit® Travel Mastercard® or Free Spirit® Travel More MasterCard®. The Pool Pilot can invite up to eight other people, who can be family members or friends.
- United MileagePlus: In early 2024, United began allowing members to pool their points. The pool can have up to five members. There are no family or age requirements. There is also no limit to the amount of miles that can be contributed to the pool. However, pooled miles can only be used to book United- and United Express-operated flights.
International airlines
- Air France–KLM Flying Blue: Flying Blue family pooling lets you share miles with up to eight members. Pools can include up to two adults and up to six children.
- Avianca LifeMiles: Elite members can pool their LifeMiles with up to seven other members. Although miles can be transferred between any two members, only the LifeMiles pool “head” can initiate transfers.
- British Airways Executive Club: British Airways allows points pooling for free by setting up a Household Account with up to six other members. Once the household account has been established, you can also set up a list of family and friends, letting you redeem Avios from the pool for those outside the pool.
- Etihad Guest: Etihad Guest allows points pooling with up to nine people — a Family Head and eight others within a Family Membership account.
- Norwegian Reward CashPoints: Norwegian Reward allows you to create a Family Account with up to seven members; you don't have to be related. A pool must have at least one member who is over 18 years old.
- Qantas Frequent Flyer: Qantas members can transfer points to family members for free using this online form.
- Virgin Australia Velocity Frequent Flyer: Virgin Australia's Velocity Frequent Flyer offers flexible family pooling, allowing members to pool both Status Credits and points. You can connect up to six family members — two adults and four kids — living at the same address.
Can you pool American Airlines miles?
Unfortunately, United is the only one of the big three U.S. airlines to offer pooling, which means that American Airlines family pooling is not an option. The only way to pool American Airlines miles is to transfer them to another AAdvantage member for a charge of $5 per 1,000 miles, with a maximum of 200,000 per year.
Do hotels allow family pooling?
At hotels, minors won't earn any points you can pool with your own since they must stay in the same room as you. However, knowing your options for sharing points is important if you're traveling with adult friends or other family members and want to split the room cost.
- Hilton Honors: Hilton allows members to share points with up to 10 people. You can send up to 500,000 points and receive up to two million points yearly. You're limited to six points pooling transactions per year.
- IHG One Rewards: IHG Diamond Elite and IHG Business Rewards members can transfer points to another IHG One Rewards account free of charge. However, if you're not a Diamond Elite or Business Rewards member, points transfers cost $5 for every 1,000 points shared. That's the typical cost of buying IHG points with a bonus or discount, so we don't recommend paying this much just to transfer points.
- Marriott Bonvoy: Marriott Bonvoy members can transfer up to 100,000 points per year to other users. You can receive up to 500,000 points per year if the account has been open for 30 days with “qualifying activity” or 90 days without “qualifying activity.” Qualifying activities include credit card spending and Marriott stays. Previously, points transferring required a phone call, but Marriott has since made it available online.
- Radisson Rewards: Radisson Rewards members can transfer to five members and can receive points from up to five members per month. You can transfer a maximum of 100,000 points per month.
- World of Hyatt: World of Hyatt members can transfer or receive points from another member once every 30 days. You must either fill out a form or call 800-544-9288 to make the transfer.
Getting Elite Status With a Family Pool
A bonus of pooling points is that pool members can sometimes enjoy extra perks if the pool leader has elite status. Traveling together may benefit the other members, providing perks like priority boarding, upgrades, lounge access, or free checked bags.
This strategy could apply to American Airlines' revamped AAdvantage® program and its use of Loyalty Points. As we mentioned, you cannot pool American Airlines miles. However, it makes sense for everyone in the family to credit their non-flying activity into one person's account, helping that person earn elite status without flying. When traveling together on the same reservation, the other family members will benefit from the same elite perks as the person with status.
Why Pooling With Your Family Makes Sense
Family pooling is one of the best strategies for traveling with a large family. Here’s an example of how pooling has benefited my family of six.
We have taken multiple flights on United over the past few years, and my children now have 5,000 miles in each of their United MileagePlus accounts. But unfortunately, 5,000 miles isn't enough for an award flight that works for us.
However, when we combine the kids' miles into the family pool, we now have 20,000 miles. That is more than enough for a one-way award ticket to some of United’s sweet spots. If it were not for family pooling, those miles would be stranded in my kids' individual accounts with the hope that they'd have enough for one award ticket someday.
United miles do not expire as long as the account is open. However, other airline and hotel points that do. Points pooling is a common way to prevent points and miles from expiring.
Related: What Is a ‘Player 2' in Points and Miles?
When Not To Use a Family Pool
As good as family pooling can be, there are times when it may not be the best option:
- Lack of people to pool with: If you don’t have a large family, pooling your points and miles together may not make much sense. It might not effectively speed up your progress toward an award ticket.
- Trust issues: Some family pooling programs, like Frontier Airlines, allow you to define your family however you want, meaning you can create a pool with friends. In this case, make sure you trust the pool head, who is responsible for redeeming miles.
- Rare redemptions for others: Using a pool also might not make sense if you rarely redeem points and miles for other people. There's no use creating a pool if you're not likely to use it to share your miles.
Bottom Line
Pooling points and miles with your family can be an amazing tool for traveling with a large group. Many airlines and hotel programs permit it (many for free), and pools in most programs are easy to set up and use. Pooling points and miles with your family isn’t for everyone, but it can be a great way for families to unlock their next award redemption much faster by working as a team.
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