Angie, a Going member asked, "We use points to fly as a family of three. My husband and son each earn their frequent flier miles for flights, but I earn the bulk of our credit card points. What is the best strategy for obtaining and using miles when you're doing it for more than one person?"
Earning points and miles for one is hard enough, but earning for a family requires strategy. But it's doable. Here's how.
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1. Make sure your credit card points transfer to the same airline loyalty program that your son and husband earn miles with.
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This is best illustrated with an example. Let's say your husband and son earn frequent flier miles with the fictional airline Pineapple Air Lines. Let's call the miles Pineapple Miles.
Next, since you use a credit card that earns transferable points, check your card's list of transfer partners and make sure Pineapple Air Lines is on it. Then, check the transfer ratio. You want to see a 1:1 transfer ratio, meaning 1,000 credit card points convert to 1,000 Pineapple Miles.
Although your husband, son, and you will each have separate loyalty accounts (also known as frequent flier numbers) with Pineapple Air Lines, you will have access to Pineapple Miles.
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2. Open a co-branded airline credit card with the same airline that your son and husband earn frequent flier miles.
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This is similar to the strategy above, but instead of using a credit card that earns transferable points, you use an airline credit card to enhance your spending-earning strategy.
Most airlines have four co-branded airline options:
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- A no-annual-fee card
- An entry-level card ($150-ish annual fee)
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A mid-tier card with a handful of lounge passes each calendar year
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A premium card with lounge access, credit for Global Entry, and potentially a head start to earning elite status
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How to pick what's right for you: Take a look at your regular spending habits. If you spend a lot on gas or groceries and one of the airline cards offers bonus miles for those spending categories, that may be the best card for you to earn more Pineapple Miles.
Except for no-annual-fee options, most airline cards include one free checked bag for you and up to 4 or 8 people traveling on the same reservation. That perk can unlock a lot of savings for your family, and easily pay for the card's annual fee.
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3. Enroll in the airline's shopping and dining rewards programs to earn more airline miles on top of what your cards earn. |
Regardless of whether you use a credit card that earns transferable points or an airline co-branded credit card, you can enroll in your airline's shopping and dining rewards programs.
This method allows you to earn more Pineapple Miles per dollar spent when you shop or dine at eligible restaurants.
Dining rewards programs
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Typically award 3x Pineapple Miles per dollar spent at eligible restaurants
- Enrolling your card is all you need to do to earn. It's a set-it-and-forget-it method.
- You can enroll multiple cards in the airline's dining rewards program.
- Butairlines don't let you enroll the same card in multiple airline dining programs.
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Miles awarded vary by the merchant and the day. You can typically expect to earn 2x to 6x miles (Up to 10x miles in rare cases.)
- Using requires more effort.
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To earn miles through shopping programs, you'll need to either click through the airline's shopping portal, use the airline's shopping portal app, and/or install the browser extension. The browser extension will pop up whenever you are on a site enrolled in the Pinapple Miles shopping rewards program.
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We call this method "stacking" because you earn extra miles on top of whatever points or miles you card would already earn on this purchase. So if your airline card gives you 2x Pineapple Miles per dollar on restaurants and you're enrolled in the Pineapple Dining Rewards program that earns 3x miles per dollar, you could earn up to 5x Pineapple Miles collectively on your bill!
Also check other partners: If you're enrolled in other travel or transit loyalty programs, you may be able to opt in to earning Pineapple Miles with them.
For example, Lyft, Uber, and hotel chains often allow you to earn miles rewards with specific airlines. Not all airlines are included, but if you see your airline, that can be another way to stack.
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4. Check if your family's preferred airline allows miles pooling. |
Mileage pools are when you can merge miles with your family members for free, almost like a joint bank account. And just as you might use a joint account for shared expenses, mileage pools allow you to redeem miles for people in the pool.
This strategy is certainly helpful for family travel, but unfortunately, only two major US airlines allow you to pool miles. If your preferred airline offers pooling, I'd recommend starting a pool with your family.
Do you have a question?
Submit yours here, and we may answer it next.
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Kurt Adams is the Points and Miles Expert for the Going travel app. As a personal finance expert with a deep understanding of credit card rewards and frequent flier programs, Kurt helps consumers navigate the intersection of money and travel. A graduate of Princeton, he lives in New York.
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