If you’re a member of the flying passenger community, whether as a single adult, part of a couple or a family, if you wish to accompany each other on a journey, then you could be confronted by a particularly challenging issue. Couples or families traveling together experience issues when attempting to book a single trip utilizing miles accumulated from multiple accounts.

Miles Accumulation

The accumulation of miles is a primary objective for travelers because of the significant rewards difference, for example:

  • Excellent reward potential, reports indicate an earning-power figure in the region of 500,000-mile when you make an international trip with a family of four.
  • The earning potential attributed to a single traveler is understandably significantly less.
  • A lack of user-awareness is generally attributed to customers and the available, for instance, transferring flexible points to airline partners, such as family and friends!

On the other hand, perhaps you or another family member have accumulated points but not sufficient for the cost of a complete trip traveling solo. This is when you turn to that well-proven tactic of pooling resources.

You Can Make it Happen

Depending on how dedicated your family and friends are towards Loyalty Programs, and the accumulation of Miles and Points will probably influence their awareness and how the system operates. The start-off point should, therefore, be:

  • To determine the collective knowledge?
  • Have they defined it correctly?
  • Is there confusion between “Thank You” points, and “AAdvantage miles”? The different accounts will require ranking in value; in other words, it’s not only related to how many points you have collected but also their utility valuation. By example, this could relate to an “Elite” status account or Avios, which although insufficient for a long-haul award, could benefit the holder in connecting flights.

  • Maintain a record of what action is agreed with the account of each participant.

Combining Accounts

Once you are aware of what is available, the next stage is to combine these accounts to make the balances not only greater but more versatile to book awards for immediate family members. Examples are:

  • Do you possess Ultimate or Membership Rewards points?
  • Which transfer would give you the highest return value?

This will be influenced by your travel destination and the type of award space you choose. Therefore, do not transfer the Points at this stage.

Your Combined Accounts Opportunities

If it is not possible from your perceptive to combine account balances, then an option for you is to consider separating your travel plans. This may include either each person booking a separate award flight on the same plane or different ones whose final destination is the same!

The Most Similar Membership Rewards

  • Various airlines and hotels Ultimate Rewards for multiple hotels and airlines.
  • A variety of hotels rewards points associated with airline mileage programs.
  • Utilizing a British Airways household account.

In the event of your wishing to transfer your points to another person, this can be achieved by the consolidating of Ultimate Rewards points into your spouse’s account. Optionally, with Membership Rewards points, you may transfer them to an authorized cardholder.

Catering to Separate Travel Plans

The following is designed to propose to put forward various other options for your award space selection. When travelers are connecting in different cities, this means a different international gateway, with the advantage of your needing less award space per flight. It’s achieved by merely meeting on arrival at a common destination instead of trying to combine everything in different packages.

In certain circumstances there could be an advantage to you if you book award flights by phone; for example; traveling in different cabins is a favored option for parents, and with proper planning arrangements, it does not mean sacrificing a lie-flat seat. This can be achieved by the parents traveling in a front Business Class cabin or for instance grand-parents enjoying a First Class flight experience. But, this stage does require some caution and consideration for the needs of other traveling party members, such as the elderly and small children perhaps requiring someone to travel with them!

A Redeeming Factor

There is versatility available to you when redeeming your flyer miles, especially if utilizing miles to pay for your preferred flight. A particularly popular method is cash-and-miles flight booking. This provides for a combined a credit card-points payment facility, for example, to use Citi/Chase/Amex/Starwood points, with payment by way of credit card or another direct debit option.