One thing that’s always annoyed me about airline frequent flier programs is when they demand substantial fees to transfer miles from one person to another.
If my wife and I each had too few frequent flier miles for a free ticket but have enough if those miles were combined, most U.S. airlines would charge us money to transfer miles we already earned from one spouse to another.
This year the rules have started to change. American AirlinesĀ cut the cost of transferring miles by two-thirds. Still, even now moving 20,000 AAdvantage miles to another account would cost $100.
This month, United Airlines raised the bar by becoming the first of the big fourĀ ā American, Delta, Southwest and UnitedĀ ā to allow free mileage pooling.Ā
Up to five people can now pool their United MileagePlus miles. For example, my wife and I could pool our miles at no cost, and could add our son to the pool, or even some unrelated friends.
That’s great, particularly for people who don’t take lots…