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One of the highlights of collecting points and miles is experiencing luxury travel without the luxury price tag. But what about helping friends and family? Can you book a flight for someone else?
Points and miles collectors can generally book travel for other travelers. However, the rules vary between airline programs. Some airlines place no restrictions on who you can book flights for. Other airlines limit you to booking award flights for travelers linked to your loyalty account. And a few programs limit you to redeeming miles for select family members.
Here's what you need to know about these rules and when you can book award flights for someone else.
Page Contents
- Why This Matters
- Which Mileage Programs Allow You To Book a Flight for Someone Else?
- Airlines That Let You Book Award Flights for Anyone Using Your Miles
- Book Award Flights for Specified People on Your Account
- Airlines That Restrict Award Booking to a Limited Number of Family Members
- Why Not Transfer Airline Miles to Someone Else To Book an Award?
- Final Thoughts
Why This Matters
In recent years, the shift to dynamic pricing among legacy frequent flyer programs has prompted a surge in the use of less familiar domestic programs. As an example, the best points and miles to get to Hawaii involves booking through American, Delta, and United's airline partners — not these airlines' own mileage programs.
Flexible rewards currencies like Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou® Points, Marriott Bonvoy points, Capital One Rewards miles, and American Express Membership Rewards have made it easy to transfer points to multiple airline partners. But it’s easy to get confused if you aren't familiar with the rules.
Transferring flexible points to airline partners is final. There is no worse feeling than moving hundreds of thousands of points to an airline partner only to realize you can only book awards for immediate family members.
With that in mind, we’ve created the table below covering restrictions on booking award tickets for other people using airline miles along with policies for each carrier on pooling your miles into a single account.
Which Mileage Programs Allow You To Book a Flight for Someone Else?
| Airline Frequent Flyer Program | Restrictions If Booking Award Flights For Other People | Family Pooling/Sharing |
|---|---|---|
| Aer Lingus AerClub | None | No |
| Aeromexico Rewards | None | Yes |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | None | Yes, Aeroplan Family Sharing joins up to 8 family members. |
| Air France/KLM Flying Blue | None | Yes, Flying Blue Family pools can have up to 2 adults and 6 children. |
| Air India Maharaja Club | You must have completed at least two Air India or Air India Express flights across different booking reference numbers before you can redeem a flight for someone else. After that, no restrictions. | You can set up a Family Pool for a small fee and invite up to 8 additional members. |
| Alaska Airlines Atmos Rewards | None | Cardholders of the Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite® Card can create a sharing network with up to 10 other Atmos Rewards members, including friends and family. |
| American Airlines AAdvantage | None | No |
| ANA Mileage Club | You can only redeem for ANA Family Account (AFA) members. | Only for members residing outside Japan, can nominate between 2-8 family members within 2 degrees of kinship to AFA. Registration fee of 1,000 miles per member. |
| Avianca LifeMiles | None | Elite members can create family pools with up to 2 adults and 5 minors. |
| British Airways Club | You can book awards for members of Household Account, plus up to 5 individuals on the Family & Friends list. No restrictions if you don't use a Household Account. | Up to 7 members living at same address can share a Household Account and pool Avios. |
| Cathay Pacific Asia Miles | Redeem for members in your nominated Redemption Group - first 5 nominees are free and then $50 each time a nominee is replaced. | No |
| Delta SkyMiles | None | No |
| Emirates Skywards | None | Up to 8 family members can join an Emirates Skywards My Family account. |
| Etihad Guest | None | Up to 8 family members can share an Etihad Guest Family Account. |
| EVA Infinity MileageLands | You can only use miles to book a flight for someone else if you are traveling with them. | No |
| Finnair Plus | None | No |
| Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings Club | You can only redeem miles for up to 10 beneficiaries that you list in your account. | Up to 10 members can join a Fortune Wings Family Account. |
| Iberia Club | You can list beneficiaries so they can use your Avios without you having to accompany them on a flight. | Up to 7 people can join an Iberia Family Account. |
| JAL Mileage Bank | You can only redeem tickets for family members within the second degree of kinship. | Up to 9 members in JAL Family Club. Primary account holder must reside outside of Japan - 1,000-mile fee per family member, plus 1,000-mile renewal fee every 5 years. |
| JetBlue TrueBlue | None | Up to 7 friends and family members can combine points through JetBlue Points Pooling. |
| Lufthansa Miles & More | None | Yes. 2 adults and up to 5 children can pool miles with Mileage Pooling. |
| Qantas Frequent Flyer | You can only redeem points for eligible family members. | You can transfer points to eligible family members free of charge with Qantas Family Transfers. |
| Qatar Privilege Club | You can add up to 4 people to join "My List," so you can redeem Avios for them when booking flights. They must stay in the list for at least six months. | Qatar Privilege Club Family Programme allows up to 9 family members to pool miles. The Family & Friends program allows you to pool miles with up to six non-members. |
| SAS EuroBonus | None | Up to 8 members (friends or family) can be part of a Point Sharing group at any given time. |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | You can add up to 5 Redemption Nominees. Nominees must stay on account for a minimum of 6 months - free to add people, but costs between $0-$30 to remove, depending on elite status. | Yes - KrisFlyer for Families lets parents can transfer miles from their children for a small fee. |
| Southwest Rapid Rewards | None | No |
| TAP Miles&Go | You can select up to 10 people to join your List of Beneficiaries each calendar year. | No |
| Thai Royal Orchid Plus | None | No |
| Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles | You must add someone as a travel companion before you can redeem miles for their ticket. | Parents with elite status and unmarried children under 25 can pool points with the Family Membership feature. |
| United MileagePlus | None | Up to five people (friends or family) can be in a United MileagePlus pool. |
| Vietnam Airlines Lotusmiles | You can only redeem miles for someone else if you hold elite status. | Up to 10 members can join a Family Account. |
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | None | You can add up to 9 household members who live with you to a Virgin Atlantic Household Account. |
Airlines That Let You Book Award Flights for Anyone Using Your Miles
Most airline mileage programs allow you to redeem miles for anybody. This includes all U.S. carrier rewards programs, the three big Gulf carriers, European programs, and although not included in the table, flexible rewards currencies like Chase Ultimate Rewards and Amex Membership Rewards.
You can redeem flexible rewards currencies for anybody via their respective travel portals. For example, if you hold the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, you can redeem Ultimate Rewards points for flights via the Chase Travel℠ Portal at a rate of up to 1.5¢ per point. Those flights can be for any person.
Unlike U.S. frequent flyer programs — which allow you to book award flights for anyone — many overseas programs place restrictions on who you can book awards for using your miles. That said, if you're only redeeming your points/miles for your immediate family (parents + children), you shouldn’t have a problem redeeming your miles for them. But you may need to register your family member beforehand, so make sure to leave yourself enough time.
Book Award Flights for Specified People on Your Account
Singapore KrisFlyer and Cathay Pacific Asia Miles only allow you to redeem miles for people specified in your account. You can nominate a limited number of people (they don't need to be family), and there is typically a minimum duration of six months a member must stay attached to your account. KrisFlyer and Asia Miles also charge a hefty fee to replace nominees to discourage any foul play.
If you have a British Airways Executive Club Household Account setup to pool Avios, you can only use the pooled miles for family members or up to 5 additional people in your Family & Friends List.
Related: How families can work together to pool points and miles
Airlines That Restrict Award Booking to a Limited Number of Family Members
Unfortunately, the most restrictive policies are found in Asian frequent flyer programs that offer some of the best sweet spots in award travel.
Both Korean SKYPASS and Asiana Club only allow you to redeem miles for immediate family members and restrict you to five linked members per account. They also require documentation to prove family or spousal relations. ANA Mileage Club and JAL Mileage Bank limit the booking of award flights to family members within two degrees of kinship.
Why Not Transfer Airline Miles to Someone Else To Book an Award?
Most frequent flyer programs typically charge a fee to transfer between accounts. This fee could be anywhere between 1 and 2 cents per mile. Considering that many airline miles have an average redeemable value of around 1.6 cents each, this makes transferring miles to someone else’s account, usually not worth the cost.
There are some exceptions, however. For example, Qantas Frequent Flyer allows family members to transfer up to 600,000 points to one another for free.
Related: Which rewards programs let you pool points and miles with others for free?
Final Thoughts
The good news is that it’s relatively straightforward to redeem miles out of your account for other people. You just need to make sure that you understand the program rules and don’t mind a bit of planning.
The ability to book award tickets for anybody using miles from your account is a feature where U.S. frequent flyer programs provide better value than their foreign counterparts.
If you want to take advantage of the outstanding value you can extract from Asian frequent flyer programs like Asiana Club, Korean SKYPASS, and ANA Mileage Club, it’s essential to set up your account ahead of time, add your family members, and ensure all documentation is sent in to prove the relationship prior to transferring points.
As always, if there are any programs we’ve missed or you have any questions, please reach out in the comments.
