Don’t have enough airline miles for that free flight? United Airlines is now letting people pool and share their frequent-flyer points with family and friends, a feature currently offered by some smaller carriers.
United said Thursday that a “pool leader” can pick as much as 4 other people to establish a joint account in its MileagePlus program.
The group leader have to be over 18, but there is no such thing as a minimum age for others, so parents can enroll kids. Everyone within the pool will need to have their very own United frequent-flyer account.
JetBlue Airways, Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines already offer pooling, with the principles various a bit from one to a different.
Frequent-flyer programs remain popular despite complaints that the worth of miles and points decline over time because airlines raise the necessities for redeeming them for flights or other items.
The programs are invaluable to the airlines by increasing customer loyalty and giving consumers a reason to get an airline-branded bank card. United’s bank cards are issued by Chase.
United points are in the midst of the pack for value amongst programs at US and international airlines, in line with a recent evaluation by the patron site NerdWallet.
