7 Loyalty Programs That Let You Pool Your Points and Miles With Travel Companions

27.02.2024 - 00:59 / cntraveler.com / Airlines

Let’s be real: Sometimes accruing enough points and miles to be able to cash in for a dream trip is tough. It can take a long time to rack up enough loyalty rewards to score those airline seats in first class or several days at a five-star resort. Fortunately, there’s a shortcut you can take to increase your account balance, practically instantly: Pool your points and miles with friends or family.

There are a handful of travel loyalty programs, including airlines, hotels, and credit cards, that let users combine points together or transfer miles to one another. Combining points with loved ones makes it easier and faster to score luxe redemptions on milestone trips like honeymoons, group vacations, or even treat one person in your crew to a special solo trip.

Be aware that some programs limit points transfers and pooling to people in the same household, while others have more flexible rules that allow sharing between larger groups of friends. And in some cases, once you transfer or pool with other loyalty members, you could lose privileges to make redemptions yourself, so be sure you trust the person with whom you’re combining your precious points and miles.

Here’s everything you need to know about loyalty programs that allow points and miles pooling or transferring between friends and family.

Chase allows members of the same household to combine points through transfers into each other’s accounts. Although the transfers are free, they do come with restrictions. Cardholders are only allowed to transfer Ultimate Rewards points to one member of their household. To do this the first time, cardholders will have to call Chase customer service to have a representative designate the person they want to share their points with. (After the first time, you’ll be able to do future transfers online.) There’s also an option to transfer Chase Ultimate Reward points directly to a household member’s airline or hotel loyalty account—as long as the airline or hotel is one of Chase’s transfer partners—but that person must be an authorized user on your Chase card to do so.

Transferring Marriott Bonvoy points to a friend’s or family member’s account is relatively straightforward. Both Bonvoy accounts must be in good standing at the time of the transfer and need to have been open for at least 30 days if they’ve recently seen qualifying activity—like completing a stay or earning points through a co-branded credit card—or at least 90 days with no recent activity. To make the transfer, use Bonvoy’s online point transfer tool and be sure you enter the recipient’s name exactly how it appears on their Bonvoy account. The minimum transfer amount is 1,000 points, and can increase in 1,000-point increments from there. Members can