Whether you’re travelling with family or a close group of friends, many frequent flyer programs allow you pool points across multiple accounts for flight redemptions. This approach helps you combine balances faster, reduce the risk of points expiring, and makes it easier to book award flights together on a single reservation.
A single flight reservation makes changes simpler, streamlines check-in and seat selection, and ensures the entire travel group is treated as one party if any flight disruptions occur.
Once you set up family pooling, it’s essentially a ‘Set & Forget‘ arrangement, which is typically free. Each program has its own rules regarding how family pooling operates, including what constitutes a ‘family‘ and how often members can be added or removed.
Qantas Frequent Flyer
Qantas doesn’t provide any family pooling options, however you can easily transfer points between eligible family members. The only requirements are that each account is at least three months old and you transfer a minimum of 1,500 points. There’s no maximum limit, and best of all, it’s completely free, making it a simple way to combine your Qantas points for your next family trip on a single booking.
Velocity Virgin Australia
Velocity offers Family Pooling for up to six family members living at the same address, with a maximum of two adults and four children.
One member is designated as the beneficiary, and all points earned by other family members are automatically credited to their account. Points earned before joining the family pool are not transferred, but you can transfer points between family members up to four times per year, with a maximum of 125,000 points per transfer.
One unique feature of Velocity’s Family Pool offering is that Status Credits work the same way, meaning all family members’ earned Status Credits also flow into the beneficiary’s account. This makes it easier for families to work toward elite status together, in addition to building a larger points balance for flight redemptions.
KrisFlyer – Singapore Airlines
KrisFlyer lets families pool points, however their offering is very limited. You can only link children’s accounts aged 2 to 16 to an adult account. Each child can transfer up to 50,000 miles per year, with a fee of USD 5 or 500 miles for every 5,000 miles transferred.
Emirates Skywards
Emirates Skywards’ My Family allows up to eight members (the Family Head plus seven others) to pool future Skywards Miles into a shared account. Members aged 18 or older can use the shared account for flight redemptions or upgrades.
Emirates lets you decide what percentage of each family member’s points are contributed to the family account, from 0% to 100%. Each member keeps their individual account, and points earned before joining the family pool cannot be transferred. Conversely, once miles are contributed to the family account, they cannot be moved back to an individual account.
British Airways Executive Club
British Airways offers a Household Account, allowing you to pool Avios with up to six people who live at the same address. Unlike other Family Pooling programs, it lets you combine both past and future Avios to create a shared family balance. Flights can then be redeemed from this balance, with points deducted proportionally based on each member’s contribution to the household account.
British Airways’ Household Account offers unique perks that set it apart from other programs and can be ideal for many families, we recommend reviewing how the Household account operates to see if it could benefit your family when it comes to pooling your Avios points.
Cathay Pacific — Asia Miles
Cathay Pacific’s Asia Miles program offers a limited family pooling option, allowing minor accounts to be linked to an adult’s account. Miles from a child’s account can be transferred to the adult at no cost, up to 120,000 miles per membership year.
For adult accounts, there is no true points pooling option. The only way to move miles between adult accounts is through paid transfers, which carry a significant fee.
Qatar Airways — Privilege Club
Qatar Airways offers a straightforward, ‘set and forget’ family pooling program, allowing the Family Head to nominate up to nine family members. All Avios earned by family members are automatically credited to the Family Head’s account, making it easier to consolidate points for redemption. Any Avios earned before joining the family pooling program remain with the individual account holder.
Air Canada — Aeroplan
Aeroplan Family Sharing allows up to eight verified family members to combine their Aeroplan points into a shared balance managed by a Family Lead. Once the Family Pool is created up, all points, including existing balances and future points are added to the shared balance. The Family Lead can determine whether a family member can simply contribute points or both contribute and redeem from the shared balance.
For redemptions, points are proportionally deducted from each member’s account based on their contribution to the Family Pool. Aeroplan offers many benefits through family pooling program, we recommend reviewing the program to ensure it meets your family’s needs.
Virgin Atlantic — Flying Club
Virgin Atlantic’s Household Account family pooling offering is a ‘set & forget’ type program that lets Flying Club members combine points into a shared balance managed by a Household Leader. Up to nine people living at the same address (family or friends) can join.
Once linked, all points earned through Flying Club activities automatically pool into the Household Account, with the Household Leader as the only person who can make redemptions. Points earned before joining remain in each member’s personal account.
Etihad Guest
Etihad Guest offers a standard family pooling program called Family Membership, which allows the Family Head to nominate up to eight family members. All miles earned by participating family members automatically pool into the Family Head’s account.
When it comes to redemptions, the Family Head can use the pooled miles to book award flights or upgrades for any member of the family pool. Miles earned prior to joining the Family Membership remain in individual accounts.
American Airlines — AAdvantage
The American Airlines AAdvantage program doesn’t offer any family pooling options. While members can gift miles between accounts, a fee of $5 per 1,000 miles applies, and each account is limited to sending or receiving up to 200,000 miles per calendar year.
In the absence of pooling, you can still use your AAdvantage miles to book award travel for other people from your own account. However, this isn’t the same as true family pooling as seen with some other frequent flyer programs.
Delta — SkyMiles
Delta SkyMiles doesn’t offer any family pooling options, however you can transfer miles between accounts, each transfer comes with a fee of $0.01 per mile plus a $30 processing charge. Accounts can transfer up to 150,000 miles per year and receive up to 300,000 miles annually, making this option a costly transaction and typically not worth it.
Even without pooling, you can still use your SkyMiles to book award flights for friends or family directly from your account. However, this isn’t the same as true family pooling as other frequent flyer programs allow.
Alaska Airlines & Hawaiian Airlines — Atmos Rewards
Atmos Rewards doesn’t offer family pooling in the traditional sense. While points can be transferred between accounts, the process comes at a cost at $0.01 per point plus a $25 processing fee, with transfers limited to 30,000 points per transaction and a maximum of 100,000 points transferred in or out per year. Such transfer are costly and generally provide limited value.
One avenue to transfer points freely is by holding the Atmos Rewards Summit Visa Infinite card. This card enables points sharing with up to 10 other Atmos Rewards members, allowing transfers in both directions at no cost. While this option isn’t for everyone, it’s worth considering if Atmos Rewards is your primary frequent flyer account and you are eligible to apply for the card.
ANA Mileage Club
ANA Milage Club offers family pooling through its Family Account Service, there are several strict rules to be aware of. Only ANA accounts held outside of Japan are eligible for family pooling having up to 8 family members. Setting up the account requires a one-time fee of 1,000 miles, the registration process can take up to two weeks and potentially requiring proof of family relationships and confirmation of residency outside Japan.
All miles are pooled into a single account, with flights redemption or point upgrades being deducted directly from the pooled balance.
Japan Airlines – JAL Mileage Bank
JAL Mileage Bank offers family pooling through its JAL Family Club, but there are several rules to be aware of before applying. Only JAL accounts held outside of Japan are eligible, and a family account can include up to 8 members. Setting up the account requires a one-time fee of 1,000 miles, and the registration process typically takes 1–3 weeks, often requiring proof of family relationships and confirmation of residency outside Japan. Additionally, a renewal fee of 1,000 miles is deducted every five years, and enrolling additional family members after setup incurs a fee of 1,000 miles per member.
All miles earned by family members are pooled into a single account, with award flight redemptions or point upgrades being deducted directly from the pooled balance.
Air France-KLM – Flying Blue
Flying Blue Family allows you to share miles between family members, with a maximum of 2 adults and 6 children per family account. One member is designated as the Family Leader, who can transfer all or part of the miles from other family members’ accounts into their own. Each family member continues to earn miles in their individual account, but once transferred—which cannot be reversed—the miles can be used by the Family Leader for flight redemptions or upgrades.
Iberia Plus
Iberia Club allows family pooling through the creation of an Iberia Club Family Account, offering a flexible policy that lets up to 7 friends or family members share their Avios balances. Iberia takes a liberal approach, with no relationship restrictions — any member with an active Iberia Club account can join.
The shared Avios balance allows any member of the Family Account to redeem miles for flights or upgrades. When a redemption is made, the required Avios are deducted proportionally from each member’s individual balance based on their contribution to the shared pool.
Thai Airways — Royal Orchid Plus
Royal Orchid Plus does not offer family pooling and does not allow points to be transferred between member accounts, making it an outlier among frequent flyer programs in terms of family‑friendly options.
You can redeem miles for flight awards on behalf of up to 5 nominated friends or family members listed in your account. While there is no true family pooling, the program still provides some flexibility to use miles to book a family trip.
Malaysia Airlines — Enrich
Malaysia Airlines’ frequent flyer program, Enrich, offers Enrich Points Pool, which separates members into a Beneficiary and Contributors. Each Beneficiary can link up to eight Contributors, with all future points earned by Contributors automatically flowing into a shared points pool.
To join an Enrich Points Pool, Malaysia Airlines requires a copy of each member’s passport, regardless of whether the Contributor is a family member or a friend. When it comes to flight redemptions, only the Beneficiary can access the Enrich Points Pool and make bookings.
United Airlines — MileagePlus
United Airlines’ MileagePlus miles pooling lets any member create or join a shared pool of up to five participants (one leader plus four others), including family or friends.
Members can contribute miles to the pool at no cost and without limits. Pooled miles can be redeemed for award flights on United either by the pool leader or by any participating member if the leader grants them redemption access.
Air New Zealand – Koru
Air New Zealand’s Koru program offers SharePoints, a points‑pooling feature available exclusively to New Zealand members only that allows up to ten participants, including friends or family, to combine their Airpoints Dollars for redemptions.
Within a SharePoints account, the owner can assign roles to members, designating Spenders, who can use the shared balance for flights or other reward redemptions, and Non‑Spenders, who can contribute points but do not have spending access.
Each frequent flyer program has it’s own take on family pooling with many offering it’s members the ability to pool points with family members sometimes even friends at no cost. Pooling points is an powerful way to consolidate point balances, making it easier to book redemption flights while reducing the risk of small, unused balances going to waste or expiring because they aren’t enough for a full redemption.
When it comes to points pooling, it’s essential to understand the rules of each frequent flyer program. You should know who is eligible to join, how to add or remove members from the pool, and who manages flight redemptions. Some programs restrict participation to family members or set age limits, while others may require documentation to verify relationships and can take several weeks to set up.
By taking the time to set up accounts correctly, you can maximise the benefits of points pooling, eliminating any guesswork about how points are contributed to the pool and how flight redemptions can be made for all family members.
