About Using Miles for Someone Else

We previously shared how to use hotel points and free-night awards to book for someone else. Today we turn to using airline miles to book tickets for others. As always, the first points to emphasize are:

  • Never admit to buying or selling airline miles—say it was a ticket gifted to a friend
  • Never admit to buying or selling airline miles—say it was a ticket gifted to a friend
  • Never admit to buying or selling airline miles—say it was a ticket gifted to a friend

Although many airlines by default allow you to book award tickets for a third party who is not the account holder, buying or selling airline miles through unofficial platforms or individuals is against the rules. If discovered, the airline may confiscate the miles in your account or even close your frequent flyer account. For example, AA explicitly states that buying or selling miles or award tickets is not allowed and may even lead to legal action.

At no time may AAdvantage® mileage credit or award tickets be purchased, sold, advertised for sale or bartered (including but not limited to transferring, gifting, or promising mileage credit or award tickets in exchange for support of a certain business, product or charity and/or participation in an auction, sweepstakes, raffle or contest) . Any such mileage or tickets are void if transferred for cash or other consideration. Violators (including any passenger who uses a purchased or bartered award ticket) may be liable for damages and litigation costs, including American Airlines attorneys’ fees incurred in enforcing this rule.

Of course, many airlines also offer official “gift miles” options, but the fees are steep and almost never worth it (BA is a bit more reasonable). There is also Points.com, a platform that is unofficially tolerated for recycling/exchanging miles—the ratios are terrible, so we don’t recommend it either.

How to Book

In practice, most North American airlines place few restrictions on issuing awards for third parties—you can simply search and book on the airline’s website. For example, if you use UA miles to book an LAX–PVG award ticket, you can select “new Traveler” under Traveler Info and enter the actual passenger’s information.

One important note: if the actual traveler is questioned by the airline at check-in, they must never say the ticket was bought from someone else, or that they don’t know it’s an award ticket. The safest approach is for the traveler to be able to name the account holder who issued the ticket and to state that it was a gift from that account holder.

Airlines With Extra Restrictions

A number of airlines do place extra limits on booking for third parties. Most of these are Asian carriers, and policies are generally consistent within a given country.

  • All Nippon Airways Mileage Club (ANA): You can only redeem award tickets for relatives within two degrees of relationship. For example, parents, spouse, children, and siblings are first-degree relatives, and so on. Changing listed relatives costs 5,000 miles.
  • Asiana Club: You can only redeem award tickets for your immediate family members (see the explanation above).
  • British Airways Executive Club (BA): You can only redeem award tickets for members of your household; you need to set up a household account.
  • Cathay Pacific Asia Miles (CX): You can redeem award tickets for up to five people, with no family relationship required. However, changing those five people costs a $50 fee.
  • Japan Airlines Mileage Bank (JL): You can only redeem award tickets for relatives within two degrees of relationship.
  • Korean Air SkyPass: You can only redeem award tickets for your immediate family members (see the explanation above).
  • Singapore KrisFlyer: You can redeem award tickets for up to five people, with no family relationship required. However, those five people must remain on your account for six months before you can change them, and changing them costs a $30 fee.

If you want to book with any of the airlines above that restrict redemptions to family/household members, add those people to your account a few days in advance and confirm you can book before you transfer points. For example, ANA may take some time to review and may later request supporting documents for family members.

Cases That Got Flagged

AA Account Closures

AA has been among the most aggressive at scrutinizing award tickets and accounts. There used to be a large number of ticket brokers on the Mitbbs forum buying AA miles and issuing tickets for customers to pocket the spread. Later a mysterious person began contacting brokers and mile sellers in a sting operation, catching quite a few people involved in buying and selling miles. Once a broker is caught, anyone who previously had tickets issued that way is also at risk. In short, if you choose to buy or sell, you have to accept that risk. Weigh it carefully.

Here is a typical example for reference.

BA Account Closures

Starting around December 2019, a number of data points showed British Airways (BA) reviewing accounts and closing quite a few of them, with miles confiscated on closed accounts. Accounts that BA has reviewed (or closed) so far tend to share these traits:

  • A rapid increase in account miles over a short period (heavy recent use of BA co-branded cards or point transfers)
  • Recent award redemptions for people other than the account holder, especially tickets issued for multiple people
  • You can appeal, but reviewed accounts must provide information on the passengers; otherwise the account will ultimately be closed
Our records indicate that tickets in the names of various third parties have been redeemed from your Executive Club account between xx/xx/xxxx and xx/xx/xxxx.This pattern of activity is high when compared to the average redemption rates on Executive Club membership accounts.In order to bring the review of your account to a swift conclusion, we would be grateful if you would provide confirmation that redemption bookings made on your account have been made in accordance with the Executive Club Terms and Conditions.

If you only redeemed for family and friends and not very often, providing the supporting materials should usually get the account restored. If you frequently issued tickets for others, you’re likely done for.

Summary

Compared with hotel bookings that may require adding roommates, airlines are generally much more open about how miles can be used—you mainly need to enter the correct name when you book. That said, buying and selling miles is not allowed, and account closure if you’re caught remains a real risk.