I know I can transfer points from my Chase card to my United member account. But can I use points to purchase a ticket for someone else? And, would those miles be able to be added to my account or would they have to be added to an account in the travelers name?
I've never used Airline points/miles to travel, so I apologize if these seem like very elementary questions. My intent is to have a 'family' account. Whereas I can bank airline miles anytime me, hubby, kids or my mom flies, and in turn utilize those miles to buy more tickets... Or does each person have to have their own individual miles account?
If you purchase the tickets through the UR portal using UR points the traveler can earn the miles for that flight but they would need an account created in their name. Yes, you may purchase tickets for someone else with your UR points. I just purchased tickets to Iceland through the UR portal using my UR points for both me and DH. I had to give them DH's FF account number for his ticket and my FF number for my ticket so we would both earn miles for the flight.
Not all airlines allow a family or household account. Transferring airline miles from one account to another in order to pool miles will incur a charge. If I want to transfer 50,000 miles from my American Airlines FF account to DH's AA FF account it will cost me $625. British Airways does allow household accounts for people living at the same address. Therefore, DH and I can share BA miles and not incur any fees.
Only paid tickets will earn frequent flier miles. Booking with UR points through the UR portal, MR travel or TY points travel are all paid tickets. Award tickets don't earn FF miles.
Example: I use 50,000 UR points to purchase a United airline ticket that costs $750 through the UR portal. I will earn FF miles for this flight
Example: I transfer 50,000 UR points into my United Frequent Flier account and book a flight on United's website or over the phone with United. I will NOT earn FF miles for that flight.
Each person will need to have their own FF account number to earn miles for paid flights. However, you can book award flights for someone else with your own airline miles. DH and I do this often and just rotate between his FF account and my FF account.
We travel with my mom sometimes too. My mom has her own FF accounts and we tell her which credit cards to get and put post it notes on them so she knows which to use for a purchase for the travel hacking. When it comes time to book the flights I log into her account and book them for her. I hope this helps.
