Pooling, Transferring and Inheriting Miles

Pooling lets a group combine balances into one account for redemptions, usually free. It is the cleanest way for a household to reach a business class award, and it has spread fast: United added it in 2024, and nearly every non-US program has some version.

• United MileagePlus: groups of up to five, leader 18 or over, any relationship, free; pooled miles book United and United Express awards only.
• Aeroplan: Family Sharing pools two to eight members with no fee and no minimum age; members must have been in Aeroplan six months, stay at least three months, and pool their whole balance.
• British Airways Club: Household Account of up to seven people at the same address, six-month minimum stay, each member can redeem; awards only for household members or up to five Family & Friends nominees.
• Virgin Atlantic: Household of up to nine people at the same address, twelve-month minimum, only the leader spends.
• Flying Blue: Flying Blue Family of up to eight (two adults, six children); the leader pulls miles from members' accounts.
• Miles & More: Mileage Pooling for two adults and up to five children aged 2 to 17, in listed European countries.
• Korean Air SKYPASS: Family Plan pools up to five registered relatives including yourself, with documented relationships; SkyTeam awards cannot be pooled.
• Emirates Skywards: My Family with a head plus seven relatives, each contributing 0 to 100 percent of earned miles; contributions cannot be reversed.
• Etihad Guest: Family Membership of up to nine, one-month minimum, the head redeems.
• Qatar Privilege Club: Family & Friends group of up to nine; members earn base Avios into the main member's account and only the main member redeems; six-month lock-in.
• Turkish Miles&Smiles: Family Membership for parents and unmarried children under 25, for Classic Plus and Elite members only.
• KrisFlyer: parents can link up to five children under 16 and move their miles up, otherwise no pooling. JAL: no pooling except the JAL Family Club for overseas residents (up to eight). Qantas, Cathay, American, Delta and Alaska have no pooling.

• Delta: $0.01 per mile plus $30 per transaction; 150,000 out and 300,000 in per calendar year, 1,000 to 30,000 per transfer.
• American: a non-refundable transfer fee (the amount is shown at checkout); 300,000 out and 300,000 in per year, and buying plus gifting capped at 300,000 a year.
• Alaska Atmos Rewards: $10 per 1,000 points, 1,000 to 30,000 per transaction, 100,000 in or out per year; free for Summit and Hawaiian World Elite cardholders.
• Turkish: USD 20 per 1,000 miles with no minimum or maximum. Emirates: USD 15 per 1,000, minimum 2,000, 50,000 sent or received per year. Virgin Atlantic: flat £10 or $15, minimum 1,000, free for Gold members making a booking.
• Qatar: up to 250,000 Avios a year in blocks of 1,000, posted within 72 hours. Flying Blue: allowed, fee depends on the amount, within 72 hours. Aeroplan: allowed "for a fee" set from time to time.
• Qantas: Family Transfers only, to a listed family member, minimum 1,500 points, no fee online. Cathay: only to Redemption Group nominees, for a service fee. KrisFlyer: only child to parent, USD 5 or 500 miles per 5,000, up to 50,000 a year.
• Not allowed at all: British Airways (Avios can only be combined between your own accounts), Miles & More ("cannot be transferred to third parties"), JAL ("pooling, combining, or transferring... between Members is not permitted"), Korean Air outside the Family Plan.

Paid transfers are rarely worth it at these prices. Delta's one cent per mile is close to the miles' entire value, and Turkish's two cents exceeds it. The exception is topping up a balance by a few thousand miles to reach a specific award.

Every program lets a member spend miles on a ticket in another name, but who that name can be varies, and the rule is where miles brokers and buyers get into trouble.

• Any name: American ("any name designated by the AAdvantage member"), Delta (tickets are non-transferable once issued), Turkish ("any other individual, as long as this is not in return for any payment"), Virgin Atlantic, Miles & More (people with whom the member has "a personal, mutual relationship").
• Registered family or nominees only: JAL (spouse, relatives within the second degree and in-laws), Qantas (members and Eligible Family Members), British Airways (household members or five Family & Friends), Cathay and KrisFlyer (up to five Redemption Group nominees), Qatar (My List or group members), Korean Air (registered family, widely reported but not confirmed from a readable page).

Selling the booking is prohibited everywhere. AAdvantage terms bar members from selling, bartering or "promising" any rewards; Delta prohibits "the sale or barter of miles... or Award Tickets"; Qatar's terms say in capitals that Avios or awards may never be sold for cash. A program that finds a sold ticket can cancel it and close the account. Our selling miles guide sets out how Points Plug handles this and what you are agreeing to.

• Forfeited by the terms: KrisFlyer ("automatically forfeited on the death of the member"), Cathay (account terminated and miles cancelled), British Airways ("shall be cancelled"), Turkish ("non-transferable"), Delta and American (not transferable "upon death" except as the airline permits).
• Transferable through a process: Aeroplan (points "cannot be willed" but a named estate beneficiary can claim them with a death certificate and will extract, split equally between beneficiaries), JAL (miles "may be transferred to the Member's heir at law"), Qantas (executors can ask within twelve months to move points to an Eligible Family Member), Qatar (to another member within twelve months at the airline's discretion), Virgin Atlantic (to a named beneficiary at the airline's discretion with a death certificate and indemnity), Emirates (to legal beneficiaries if the balance is at least 2,000 miles and the claim is made within six months).
• Not stated on a readable page: United, Alaska, Flying Blue, Etihad, Miles & More, Korean Air.

Even where the terms say forfeited, airlines often move a balance to a spouse on request. The practical advice is to redeem or share a balance while the member is alive: pooling programs and household accounts do this automatically, and a large balance the member will not use can be turned into cash rather than left to the terms.

Nobody but the airline. American: rewards "do not constitute property of an AAdvantage member or their estate". Delta: "Miles are not the property of any Member." British Airways: all rights to Avios "remain with AGL at all times and never pass to the member." Qatar, Virgin Atlantic, KrisFlyer, Aeroplan and Turkish say the same in their own words. Miles cannot be seized in a bankruptcy or divided by a court as property, and the airline can change the rules or cancel the miles.

This is why miles are not an asset in the ordinary sense, why valuations are estimates rather than prices, and why a cash offer for miles is worth comparing against a future that the airline controls.

The IRS has taken one formal position on miles, Announcement 2002-18: it "will not assert that any taxpayer has understated his federal tax liability by reason of the receipt or personal use of frequent flyer miles or other in-kind promotional benefits attributable to the taxpayer's business or official travel". The same announcement says the relief "does not apply to travel or other promotional benefits that are converted to cash".

From that, and from IRS Publication 525, the working rules are:

• Miles earned from flying and everyday card spending are not taxed when earned or redeemed for travel. Publication 525 treats rebates on purchases as a price reduction, not income.
• Miles or points converted to cash are outside the 2002 relief. A payment for miles is income to the seller; whether it is reported on a Form 1099 depends on who pays and how much. The 1099-MISC "other income" threshold is $600 for 2025 and $2,000 for tax years beginning after 2025.
• Card sign-up bonuses paid without a purchase are the grey area. The IRS has not published guidance on them, and Tax Court cases on bank bonuses are not covered here because their text could not be fetched from a primary source.

None of this is tax advice. If you sell a large balance, keep the payment record and ask a preparer how to report it.