Airline Loyalty Programs With Award Discounts for Children

Award flights can offer savings, allowing you to pay for your flight with miles or points instead of cash. Most airlines charge the same number of miles for adult and child award tickets, but a few loyalty programs offer reduced mileage rates for kids, usually around 25% off. Using child award discounts (and knowing when a cash fare might offer better value) can save you thousands of miles on each trip.

This guide covers which airline award programs have child discounts, how they work, and when it makes sense to redeem points instead of paying cash. You’ll also learn about finding family flight deals, handling age cutoffs and birthdays, and managing and pooling miles for kids.

Which Airlines Offer Child Award Discounts?

Here’s a quick look at the airlines that offer a discount when you book flights for children using points or miles:

Let’s explore more details on the discounts each mileage program offers, including how the discount works, conditions, and caveats to watch out for.

Not every airline clearly advertises child award discounts, and you may only see the reduced mileage after you enter the child’s age during booking. If you don’t see a discount automatically applied, contact the airline to confirm the discount.

Air France-KLM Flying Blue

When traveling with an adult, children 2 to 11 get 25% off the usual award cost with Flying Blue. The discount applies across economy, premium economy, and business on Air France and KLM. The discount is part of the Flying Blue Family initiative, which offers family-friendly policies including no miles expiration for children under 18 and the ability for parents to extend status while on parental leave.

Flying Blue is a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One Miles, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, and Wells Fargo Rewards, among others. You can use these partnerships to transfer points or miles from some of the best travel cards, including the Platinum Card^® from American Express, Chase Sapphire Reserve^®, Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, and the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card.

Asiana Airlines Asiana Club

Mileage tickets for children cost less than those for adults with Asiana Club. For infants under 2 years old who don’t occupy a seat, you pay only 10% of the adult cost (a 90% discount). Tickets for kids between 2 and 11 are 75% of the adult mileage (a 25% discount). However, unaccompanied minors require the same number of miles as an adult.

Children between 2 and 11 are automatically enrolled in the Magic Miles program and retain their miles when they turn 12 and are enrolled in the Asiana Club.

Lufthansa Miles & More

You can save 25% of the miles on a standard booking for kids between 2 and 11 using Miles & More from Lufthansa. Children must be accompanied by an adult on the flight. Discount child award tickets are bookable with Austrian, Brussels Airlines, Discover Airlines, Eurowings, Lufthansa, and SWISS.

Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) EuroBonus

With SAS EuroBonus, kids from 2 to 11 get a 50% discount on the cost of an award, and kids under 2 get a 100% discount. However, there’s no discount on taxes and fees.

SAS sometimes offers Travelers Start Young promotions, which allow kids to fly for only taxes and fees on select trips.

TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go

You can take 25% off award miles for children 2 to 11 on TAP Portugal flights with TAP Miles&Go when you pay with miles or miles and cash. Reduced mileage applies in economy and business classes, but may not apply to partner or Star Alliance partner awards.

Bilt Rewards and Capital One Miles are transfer partners of TAP Miles&Go, so you can transfer points from the Bilt Mastercard (rates & fees) or miles earned with the Capital One Venture X card, Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, and more. TAP Miles&Go also partners with Marriott Bonvoy, and you can transfer those points to Miles&Go at a 3:1 ratio. It’s not very efficient, but it can be useful to top off your balance for a discounted child ticket.

When Cash Beats Award Discounts

Covering a child’s ticket with miles can offer savings, but it’s not always the best deal. Even when a program offers a mileage discount for kids, you should compare your total out-of-pocket cost to the equivalent cash fare before booking. Considering taxes, fees, and the value of your miles, a cash ticket might make more sense for kids.

For example, Air France cash fares for children may be discounted up to 33% on long-haul flights, but the maximum award discount is 25%. Paying cash may be a cheaper option once you factor in taxes and fees.

Other family promos to watch for include:

• SAS EuroBonus Travelers Start Young promotions requiring only taxes and fees for select routes
• Qantas Frequent Flyer kids stay- or eat-free specials, usually tied to packages
• Frontier Airlines Kids Fly Free, requiring only taxes and fees on select nonstop flights on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for Discount Den members

When Cash Wins

Cash fares may come out ahead when:

• Award surcharges are high.
• There’s a fare sale that outpaces child award discounts.
• You’re short on transferable points.
• You’re flying short-haul flights.

Some airlines allow you to book a child’s seat with cash while redeeming miles for an adult ticket. However, many programs don’t allow you to book children independently. That can make it tricky when you mix award and cash bookings. If you split reservations, check with the airline to ensure your reservations are linked.

When Miles Make Sense

Redeeming is the better move when:

• You’re redeeming costly business class awards.
• You’re traveling during peak periods when cash fares skyrocket.
• You have plenty of points and want to save cash.

Earning and Managing Miles for Kids

Earning and redeeming miles for kids can add up fast if you travel regularly as a family, especially on international flights. Minors can have frequent flyer accounts with many airlines, but each program has unique rules for setup, expiration, and point pooling.

How Kids Can Earn Miles

Most major loyalty programs allow kids to earn miles just like adults, though a parent or guardian should set up and manage the account on their behalf. There’s typically no minimum age to join, and some mileage programs, like Flying Blue, allow children to earn miles without expiration as long as they are under 18.

Family Pooling

Numerous loyalty programs allow household accounts with points or miles pooling. Family pooling helps with child discounts to extend your savings. If your preferred airline offers family pooling and a child award discount, you can share miles across accounts and redeem a child discount (usually 25%) at the same time.

Often, a family pool includes up to 7 or 8 family members, including spouses, children, parents, and siblings. Sometimes, family pool members must live at the same address or submit proof of the family relationship for approval.

For example, Asiana Club offers Family Mileage Plan, which allows you to have up to 8 family members. The definition of family members is generous, including a spouse, children, parents, paternal and maternal grandparents, grandchildren, siblings, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, and parents of the spouse.

Age Cutoffs and Birthday Travel

Age-based rules can get tricky, especially if your child’s birthday falls between your travel dates. Usually, airlines define infants as lap children under 2 and children between 2 and 11. The timing of when your child turns 2 or 12 can affect whether they qualify for discounted award tickets.

Most frequent flyer programs use the age at the time of travel (not booking) to determine a child’s eligibility for discounted fares. However, it gets tricky if your child has a birthday between your outbound and inbound flights. With some programs, age eligibility depends on age at the start of travel, so a midtrip birthday doesn’t matter. With others, discounts only apply per flight segment, so the return trip would be priced differently if they turn 2 or 12.

For example, if your child turns 2 during a trip, they may qualify as a lap child on the outbound flight but not on the inbound flight. Making separate bookings that fall before and after their birthday may be helpful.

Final Thoughts

It’s rare to find airline programs that offer child award discounts, but using them can make premium cabin or long-haul flights more accessible for families. If you regularly fly with kids, it’s worth it to sign them up for frequent flyer accounts, enroll in family pooling programs, and check for limited-time promotions before booking. Still, compare cash fares before redeeming miles.