Historically, frequent flyer programs have operated on a simple premise: The passenger sitting in the seat earns the miles.
But as families travel together more often, many loyalty programs have introduced points and miles pooling, allowing members to combine their balances and reach award redemptions faster. Instead of five family members each sitting on 5,000 miles they can’t do much with individually, they can combine those balances into a single pool with 25,000 miles — potentially enough for an award flight.
Below, we’ll look at the airlines in the U.S. and around the world that offer family pooling.
US airlines with family pooling
Of the top eight U.S. airlines, three offer the option to combine miles from multiple accounts into a single account for little to no cost: United, JetBlue and Frontier.
United Airlines
In 2024, United Airlines announced the addition of miles pooling, which allows MileagePlus members of all ages to share and redeem miles from a single account.
Since there is no age restriction on joining MileagePlus, miles earned by children can be combined with those of parents and other travelers. Pools can include up to five members, and there is no limit to the number of miles a member can contribute.
In 2026, United expanded the feature to allow pooled miles to be redeemed on more than 40 partner airlines. Previously, pooled miles could only be used on United- and United Express-operated flights, making the feature less useful for international travel.
There are a few restrictions. Members can join and leave pools at any time, but must wait 90 days after leaving a pool before joining another.
New members must also wait 72 hours after joining before they can contribute miles. Contributions can be reversed within 24 hours; after that, the miles cannot be returned to the contributor’s account. Pool leaders must be at least 18 years old, members can participate in only one pool at a time, and pooling miles does not affect Premier status.
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JetBlue
JetBlue TrueBlue is one of the most family-friendly frequent flyer programs in the U.S., allowing both friends and family members to pool points and reach award redemptions faster. TrueBlue members can join a Points Pooling account with up to six other people at no cost.
The pool leader (who must be at least 21 years old) manages the account and can designate other members to redeem points. Members of any age can participate, and while in the pool, 100% of newly earned TrueBlue points are automatically contributed to the shared balance.
Frontier Airlines
In June 2018, Frontier introduced family pooling for up to eight people, but it’s only available if the head member in the pool has either Frontier Airlines elite status or the Frontier Airlines World Mastercard®. If you qualify for Frontier Family Pooling, the eight pool members can be anyone, not necessarily family.
The information for the Frontier Airlines World Mastercard has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
A person can only be a member of one Frontier family pool at a time and must wait 90 days between switching pools. Keep in mind that kids 14 and under can fly free on select Frontier flights when you purchase a Discount Den member fare.
Related: Ultimate guide to Frontier Miles: How to earn and redeem miles
International airlines with family pooling
Once you look outside the U.S., the options for pooling miles with an airline grow fairly quickly. Below are the offerings from some of the major airlines.
Air Canada
Air Canada’s Aeroplan Family Sharing program allows up to eight verified family members to combine their Aeroplan points into a shared balance while keeping their own accounts. Points already in members’ accounts, as well as newly earned points, will get added to the pool, and redemptions will be deducted proportionally from each member’s balance to ensure everything remains fair.
The Family Lead controls who can redeem points from the shared balance. What makes this program even cooler: If one member of the family is the primary cardholder of an Aeroplan credit card, all members of the Family Sharing account can take advantage of the preferred award pricing granted to the status holder.
Related: How to redeem Aeroplan points for maximum value
Air France and KLM
Air France and KLM enhanced their Flying Blue Family program in 2022. The enhancement makes it easier for families to earn and redeem miles and take advantage of elite benefits. Flying Blue allows family members to combine their miles from up to eight accounts. There can be a maximum of two adults and six children on each family account. You can leave the family account after six months if you wish.
The family administrator can use pooled miles from all members to book rewards. Additionally, the Flying Blue Family program also offers a 25% discount on award tickets for children between 2 and 11 traveling with an adult, and miles don’t expire for members under 18.
British Airways
Children under 18 can only participate in the British Airways Club by being added to a Household Account.
A Household Account is composed of up to seven people who live at the same address. Otherwise, children cannot earn and spend their own British Airways Avios until they are 18 years old. Just like with an individual account, your Household Account Avios stay with you as long as you collect, spend, purchase or share some Avios at least once every 36 months.
British Airways offers a Family and Friends list to accompany a Household Account. This means you can redeem Avios award tickets for up to five additional people added to your list who don’t live within your household.
Related: 5 reasons why you should care about British Airways Avios
Etihad Airways
The Etihad Guest program offers a Family Membership that permits up to nine family members to pool their miles. Eligible family members include brothers, sisters, father, mother, spouse, children, grandchildren, grandparents, parents-in-law, stepparents, stepchildren, stepsiblings, stepgrandchildren, nieces, nephews and even one household staff member. The terms indicate that Etihad may audit Family Memberships and request proof of family relationships.
Once added online, members aged 13 or older will receive an email to accept the request. Members under 13 will be included in the household without email acceptance.
Related: The ultimate guide to Etihad Airways partners: How to earn and redeem Etihad Guest miles
Emirates
With the Emirates My Family program, up to eight family members ages 2 and older with an eligible family relationship may participate. This includes a husband, a wife, a partner, a mother, a father, a stepmother, a stepfather, a mother-in-law, a father-in-law, a son, a stepson, a daughter, a stepdaughter, a brother, a sister, a granddaughter, a grandson and a domestic helper.
Members of the Emirates My Family program can pool all or just a chosen percentage of their Skywards miles earned on Emirates flights, as well as miles earned from partner programs. Family members may be requested to provide Emirates Skywards with additional proof of their relationship to the head member.
Lufthansa
Lufthansa Miles & More allows mileage pooling for up to two adults and five children for members in select countries. These countries currently are: Belgium, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Denmark, Ireland, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia.
All members’ award miles can be collected in your pool, and the two adults can redeem them. The adults do not need to be partners or married.
Qatar Airways
The Qatar Airways Family Programme allows members to nominate up to nine family members to their Qatar Airways Privilege Club membership, including a spouse, children and their parents. You’re required to attach documentation of the relationship with the application form.
All Avios earned by family members are credited to the primary member’s account, but family members’ flight activities don’t earn Qpoints toward status. Once added, family members cannot be replaced for 24 months. However, family members over 18 can unlink from the family account and create their own membership accounts as main members. The Avios earned before unlinking will remain in the primary member’s account.
Related: The ultimate guide to Qatar Qsuite
Singapore Airlines
With the KrisFlyer for Families program, parents and guardians can link their child’s (2 years and older) account to their own. Up to five child accounts can be linked to one adult account, and you can transfer up to 50,000 KrisFlyer miles per child account each calendar year.
Unfortunately, there’s a fee to transfer points. It’ll cost $5 or 500 miles for every 5,000 KrisFlyer miles (or part thereof) transferred from your child’s account. That means the total cost is $50 or 5,000 miles, transferred in increments of 5,000 miles up to the 50,000-mile cap.
Keep in mind that you can’t transfer miles from your account to your child’s account. This means that parents cannot move points around to combine their own points — it’s truly a link-only relationship between a single parent and the children. Once an account is linked, it cannot be unlinked until the child turns 16.
Related: Singapore KrisFlyer: Ultimate guide to earning, redeeming and elite status
Turkish Airlines
Miles&Smiles, the Turkish Airlines frequent flyer program, permits families to collect miles in a family membership, provided that the head member has the airline’s Classic Plus elite status or higher. Family membership allows the miles of the head member, their spouse and unmarried children under 25 to be combined.
With a Family Membership, eligible family members’ earned miles are credited to the Miles&Smiles account of the head member as Bonus Miles. Each family member maintains their own Miles&Smiles account, and their flight activity continues to earn Status Miles in their individual accounts, allowing them to progress toward higher membership tiers independently.
To open a family membership, you must complete a feedback form and send it along with photocopies of your marriage certificate and identification documents for your family members (partner and children).
Virgin Atlantic
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club members with Silver or Gold elite status can create a household account and link a maximum of nine Flying Club memberships with the same household address as the Silver or Gold member. Eligible miles earned by household account-linked members will automatically transfer to the Silver or Gold member’s account after each mileage transaction, but each member will earn their own points toward elite status.
Related: How to book Delta award flights with Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points
Bottom line
Thankfully, a growing number of programs allow families to pool their miles in various ways to earn that next award flight faster.
Several other airlines also offer family pooling or household-account features, including Aegean Airlines, Asiana Airlines, Egyptair, Hainan Airlines, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Korean Air, Qantas, SAS, Vietnam Airlines and Virgin Australia. As you have noticed, rules vary. So, check each airline’s loyalty program website for current eligibility requirements and pooling restrictions.
Stacie Harris is a local resident and reporter of the Maple Grove area. Stacie reports on medicine and science for the Maple Grove Report.
