Now Live (Again!): United Introduces Free MileagePlus Pooling

Updated: September 26, 2024, 2:55pm CDT

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Share Miles With Friends and Family
Airlines That Offer Pooling
Final Thoughts

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United Airlines fans, we’ve got some good news: You can now pool your miles with your friends and family — for free!

This is no doubt a great new feature of the MileagePlus program, especially for families who may find themselves with a bunch of small balances scattered across separate accounts.

There are some restrictions to be aware of, but for many United travelers, this should make award travel easier.

United announced MileagePlus pooling, which is a way for MileagePlus members to share miles with friends and family in 1 joint account.

United Airlines Family Sharing — Pooling is great news for families. Image Credit: United

While many other airline and hotel loyalty programs offer pooling, United is the first of the “Big 3” U.S. airlines to do so. American Airlines AAdvantage and Delta SkyMiles programs still don’t allow families to combine their miles.

“We’re always looking for new ways to provide the most value to all of our loyalty members and are proud to be the first major U.S. airline to allow our members to pool their miles with their loved ones and friends.”
Luc Bondar, chief operating officer, MileagePlus

MileagePlus members can access the miles pooling page to create a free pool. There are important terms and conditions to be aware of:

Pool leaders must be 18 years of age or older
Pool leaders can invite up to 4 other MileagePlus members (friends, family, co-workers, etc.)
Pooled miles can only be used on United and United Express flights (no partner awards)
Pooled miles can be used for booking tickets on united.com or via the United app
There are no limits to the amount of miles that can be contributed to a pool
Pool members can leave a pool, but their contributed miles will stay in the pool
If a pool member leaves a pool, they cannot join another pool for 90 days
Pool miles will not impact a member’s elite status

Bottom Line:

United has rolled out a customer-friendly feature for sharing miles, but those miles can only be used on United and United Express flights. And beware of the cooling-off period designed to help prevent fraud.

Airlines That Offer Pooling

Although United introducing pooling may be a first for a “major U.S. airline,” it certainly isn’t the first airline to offer this perk.

JetBlue has been offering free Points Pooling for years. And even Frontier and Hawaiian offer a free version if you have elite status or the right credit card.

In fact, there are 25+ other airline and hotel companies that offer pooling!

Final Thoughts

This is a great move by United Airlines as it not only gives more options for customers but also incentivizes them to invite their friends to the MileagePlus program.

Plus, now travelers who might fly with United but credit their miles to a different program (like Aeroplan) for their family-friendly pooling program can keep their miles with United … if they want to.

Overall, this is a rare positive improvement to a loyalty program, which is something we don’t often see.