Why Would You Want To Combine Miles
Combining miles is a super useful feature when booking great awards flights with multiple people involved. Let’s say you want to book 2 one way tickets costing 40,000 miles each (so 80,000 miles total) for you and your spouse. You currently have 50,000 miles and your spouse currently has 30,000 miles. You have enough for 1 award ticket but not enough for 2. Your spouse on the other hand does not have enough miles for a single award ticket but if you both combined your miles, this would be just enough to book 2 awards. This is a common scenario and one where the ability to combine miles across different accounts comes in super handy.
While this is a great feature, there are still some things to take note of. This transfer miles feature will often come with some kind of cost in the form of a transaction fee, fee on the number of miles transferred, or even both! Another big thing to pay attention to is that these transfers are usually non refundable and non reversible so be very sure that the recipient’s information is correct and that you’re sure you want to go through with it.
With that out of the way, let’s dive into which programs offer this feature.
US Airlines
Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines allows you to combine miles online.
Cost
- $10 for every 1000 miles transferred
- $25 handling fee per transaction
Limits
- Minimum miles you can transfer in a single transaction is 1000 miles
- Maximum miles you can transfer in a single transaction is 30,000 miles
- Maximum miles you can transfer into or out of an account per calendar year is 100,000 miles
- Transfer in increments of 1000 miles
American Airlines
American Airlines allows you to combine miles online.
Cost
- $15 for every 1000 miles transferred
- No processing fee!
Limits
- Maximum miles you can transfer in a single transaction is 200,000 miles
- Maximum miles you can transfer into or out of an account per calendar year is 200,000 miles
- You can transfer into as many different accounts as you want as long as the total amount transferred across all accounts is less than 200,000 miles
- Buying or gifting miles contributes to the 200,000 miles per year limit
United Airlines
United Airlines allows you to combine miles online.
Cost
- $15 for every 1000 miles transferred
- $30 handling fee per transaction
Limits
- Minimum miles you can transfer in a single transaction is 500 miles
- Maximum miles you can transfer in a single transaction is 100,000 miles
- Maximum miles you can transfer into or out of an account per calendar year is 100,000 miles
- Transfer in increments of 500 miles up to 5000 miles
- Transfer in increments of 1000 miles when transferring 5000 miles or more
Delta Airlines
Delta Airlines allows you to combine miles online.
Cost
- $10 for every 1000 miles transferred
- $30 processing fee per transaction
Limits
- Minimum miles you can transfer in a single transaction is 1000 miles
- Maximum miles you can transfer in a single transaction is 30,000 miles
- Maximum miles you can transfer out of an account per calendar year is 150,000 miles
- Maximum miles you can receive into an account per calendar year is 300,000 miles
- Transfer in increments of 1000 miles
- One to four Miles recipients may be included in a single transaction
SouthWest
SouthWest allows you to combine miles online. You have to login to your Rapid Rewards account, click the “Rapid Rewards” tab near the top of the page, then scroll all the way down to the “Buy Rapid Rewards points and more” section.
Cost
- $10 for every 1000 miles transferred
- If you are a cardholder of the Chase Southwest Premier business card, you get $500 a year in credits to reimburse point transfer fees. You even earn 3x Southwest points on the fee!
- No handling fee!
Limits
- Minimum miles you can transfer in a single transaction is 2000 miles
- Maximum miles you can transfer in a single day is 60,000 miles
- Transfer in increments of 500 miles
JetBlue
JetBlue allows you to combine miles online. JetBlue uses a pooling structure where you and other members form a points pooling group to share miles in.
Cost
- No fees!
Limits
- Minimum miles you can transfer in a single transaction is 1000 miles
- Maximum miles you can transfer in a single transaction is 30,000 miles
- If a member leaves a pool group, you cannot replace them with a new member for 6 months
- Up to 7 members can be in a pool group
- You cannot be a member of multiple pool groups
Hawaiian Airlines
Haiwaiian Airlines allows you to combine miles for free online if you have a co-branded Hawaiian Airlines card. If you do not have any of their co-branded cards, you unfortunately have to contact them via their contact page and pay a fee. Hawaiian Airlines unfortunately doesn’t give any details online on what additional costs and limits there are.
Cost
- Fee per mile transferred and a fee per transaction if not a cardholder of co-branded Hawaiian Airlines card
Limits
- There is a minimum and maximum number of miles allowed per transaction
International Airlines
British Airways
British Airways allows you to combine Avios online. However, British Airways also offers a way to pool points together for free from multiple accounts via household accounts. Household accounts don’t necessarily let you transfer Avios from one account to another but instead allows you to use Avios from other account balances in order to make an award redemption. Household accounts come with some restrictions such as only allowing 7 total people to belong to a single household account and that only people who live at the same address can be added to a household account. However, I was able to create a household account with my family members even though we live in different addresses so it seems this condition is not heavily enforced.
Cost
- $20 for every 2000 Avios transferred
- No fees for Gold Tier members
Limits
- Minimum Avios you can transfer in a single transaction is 1000 Avios
- You can transfer out a maximum of 27,000 Avios to a single recipient
- The maximum number of Avios you can transfer out from a single account to multiple accounts in a calendar year is 162,000 Avios
- Maximum Avios you can transfer into an account per calendar year is 27,000 Avios
- Transfer in increments of 1000 Avios
- Transferring Avios resets the expiration date of Avios
Cathay Pacific
Cathay Pacific allows you to combine miles online. You must first nominate an individual to be in your Redemption Group before you can transfer miles to them.
Cost
- Service fee per transaction
Limits
- There is a minimum and maximum number of miles allowed per transaction
- Must nominate up to 5 individuals in a redemption group before being able to transfer Asia Miles
ANA
ANA allows you to combine miles online. You must first register for Family Account Service.
Cost
- 1000 miles fee for new registration of Family Account Service
Limits
- Can register 2-8 family members including yourself
- Registered family members can be spouses and relatives within two degrees of kinship
Qantas
Qantas allows you to combine miles online. You can also call the Frequent Flyer Service Center to do the transfer for you but there will be a $35 fee.
Cost
- Should be free if done online
- $35 fee if transferring via agent from Frequent Flyer Service Center
Limits
- Minimum Qantas points you can transfer in a single transaction is 5000 points
- Maximum Qantas points you can transfer in a single transaction is 600,000 points
- Unlimited transfers in a 12 month period
- The maximum number of Qantas points you can transfer out from a single account in a 12 month period is 600,000 points
Emirates
Emirates allows you to combine miles online.
Cost
- $15 fee per 1,000 miles transferred
Limits
- Minimum Skywards miles you can transfer in a single transaction is 2000 miles
- Maximum Skywards miles you can transfer out from a single account in a calendar year is 50,000 miles
- Maximum Skywards miles you can transfer into an account per calendar year is 50,000 miles
- Online transfer is not available if sending Skywards miles to or receiving miles from a My Family Account
Eva Air
Eva Air allows you to combine miles online. You must first nominate an individual through a nominee registration form that you can fill out online before you can transfer miles to them.
Cost
- Service fee per transaction
Limits
- Green/Silver/Gold card members can have up to 6 nominees
- Diamond card members can have up to 9 nominees
- You cannot request to change nominees after they have been added
- Can cancel the transfer and send miles back to the original owner
Turkish Airlines
Turkish Airlines allows you to combine miles online. You have to log in to your Turkish Miles and Smiles account and then go to “Miles Transactions”.
Cost
- $20 for every 1,000 miles transferred
Limits
- No minimum or maximum limit for transferring miles
- Can transfer miles to as many people as you wish
Air Canada
Air Canada allows you to combine miles online for a fee. But you can also set up a family account and combine points for free.
Cost
- $20 per 1000 miles transferred
- Processing fee per transaction
Limits
- Minimum Aeroplan miles you can transfer in a single transaction is 1000 miles
- Up to 8 family members can join a family account
Avianca
Avianca allows you to combine miles online.
Cost
- $15 per 1000 miles transferred
- $18.30 processing fee per transaction
Limits
- Minimum Lifemiles you can transfer in a single transaction is 1000 Lifemiles
- Maximum Lifemiles you can transfer in a single transaction is 100,000 miles
- Maximum Lifemiles you can transfer in and out of an account per calendar year is 75,000 Lifemiles
- Transfer in increments of 1000 Lifemiles
Etihad
Etihad allows you to combine miles online. You must add all your family members to your family account.
Cost
- No fee to combine miles
Limits
- The head of the Family group has to manually submit a form with the details for each family member
- When you join a Family group, you will be under a 1 month lock-in period where you cannot leave or be removed from the family
- After 1 month you can freely leave a Family group with the miles you earned in your own transactions
Lufthansa
Lufthansa allows you to combine miles online via family pooling. However, this feature is ONLY for EU residents. You cannot use this feature to transfer Lufthansa miles if you live in the US.
Cost
- Free of charge
Limits
- Minimum number of members in a family pool i 2
- Mileage pool can have 2 adults and up to 5 children
- Must live in select EU countries to participate
- Any two adults can form a mileage pool together
- You can only be part of 1 mileage pool at a time
Virgin Atlantic
Virgin Atlantic allows you to combine miles online.
Cost
- Service fee per transaction
Limits
- Minimum Flying Club points you can transfer in a single transaction is 1000 points
- Maximum number of Flying Club points you can transfer out from a single account to multiple accounts in a calendar year is 100,000 points
- Transfer in increments of 1000 points
- Flying Club Gold members can transfer points for free
TAP
TAP allows you to combine miles online.
Cost
- Service fee per transaction
Limits
- Minimum Miles you can transfer in a single transaction is 2000 Miles
- Transfer in increments of 2000 Miles
- Maximum number of Miles you can transfer to and from a single account in a calendar year is 20,000 Miles
Air France / KLM
Air France and KLM allow you to combine miles online. The Flying Blue program unfortunately doesn’t give any details online on what costs and limits there are.
Cost
- Potential service fee per transaction
Limits
- Minimum number of Flying Blue miles in a transaction is 250 miles
Finnair
Finnair allows you to combine miles online. Finnair unfortunately doesn’t give any details online on what additional costs and limits there are.
Cost
- 10 Euro (~$11.23) service charge per transaction when transferring online
- 20 Euro (~$22.46) service charge per transaction when transferring through a customer service call
Limits
- Can only transfer points online after the sender has had Finnair Plus account for more than 90 days
Scandinavian Airlines
SAS allows you to combine miles online. You must first create a point sharing group and invite the people who you want to pool points with.
Cost
- Seems to be free
Limits
- You can invite up to 7 people to pool points together
- 6 month lock=in period once you join a group
Airlines That Do NOT Allow You To Combine Miles
Singapore Airlines
Singapore Airlines does not let you transfer KrisFlyer miles to friends and family. The only exception is if you have a child under the age of 16 and have linked their account to yours. You are able to transfer KrisFlyer miles from your child’s account to your account once this link is set up.
Limits
- Can transfer up to 50,000 miles from your child’s account to yours per calendar year
- $5 or 500 KrisFlyer miles fee per 5,000 KrisFlyer miles transferred
Aeromexico
Aeromexico does not let you transfer Aeromexico rewards to friends and family.
Thai Airways
Thai Airways does not let you transfer Royal Orchid Plus miles to friends and family.
Conclusion
Being able to combine miles from different accounts is a super useful feature when traveling with friends and family. It’s important to know which frequent flyer programs allow you to do this and what costs and limitations they come with! Let me know which programs you’ve pooled points in and any headaches you had while doing so!
British Airways has Family Pooling (similar to what you described for JetBlue), and you can combine points for free for all “family” members.
Ah totally forgot about. Thanks for the reminder! Added to the post.