Quick points: Book award travel faster by pooling your points

Apart from credit card sign-up bonuses, it can sometimes be difficult to earn enough points and miles for a free flight or hotel night. This is particularly true for families or infrequent travelers who generally accrue small amounts of points and aren't particularly loyal to one program.

Transferring points between members can be costly. Thankfully, however, some programs allow you to combine (or pool) your points for free. You may not be able to do much with your points on your own, but when pooled from multiple accounts, you could have enough for a redemption.

Here's an overview of when you should pool your points and which major programs allow this.

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When you should pool your points

Pooling your points and miles can make sense in several scenarios. For one, as previously alluded to, it's useful if you don't have many points yourself but have friends or family members who can give you a boost. For instance, 15,000 miles spread across four family members' accounts isn't very useful, but when pooled together, could be enough for a free flight.

Another time it can make sense to pool your points is if you're traveling with someone and they have a higher status than you. For example, if you and a friend are planning a Marriott stay and they have Platinum Elite status while you have no status, you should book the entire stay from their account. This way, you'll receive elite benefits like free breakfast that you wouldn't have received if you made the booking from your account.

Lastly, if you are thinking about canceling a credit card, you might forfeit unused points. By transferring your points to another member, you could avoid letting your hard-earned points go to waste.

Programs that allow points to be pooled

Airlines

Of the U.S. airlines, only JetBlue, Frontier and Hawaiian allow some version of award pooling. There are also a number of international carriers that allow pooling, including Air Canada, Air France and KLM (Flying Blue) and British Airways.

For the most up-to-date list of airlines that allow pooling, see this guide.

Hotels

With the exception of IHG One Rewards, most major hotel chains allow you to share or pool points at no charge.

• Marriott Bonvoy: You can transfer up to 100,000 points and receive up to 500,000 points from another member per calendar year. While both account holders will need to call Marriott Bonvoy together to transfer points, the transfer is generally instantaneous.
• World of Hyatt: Every 30 days, you are allowed to participate in up to one point sharing activity. While you'll need to complete and send this form (PDF link) to Hyatt, point transfers do not have limits. If you're a Globalist member, note that Guest of Honor bookings are intended to be a gift and you shouldn't be reimbursed points from the other member.
• Hilton Honors: You can pool points with up to 10 other members (for a maximum of 11 people in the group). Each member is able to contribute up to 500,000 points to the pool, and no member can receive more than 2 million points from the pool. You can make up to six pooling transactions per calendar year.

Credit cards

• Chase Ultimate Rewards: Chase allows points to be transferred to a member of your household. Of course, this policy is inherently limiting as you can't transfer points to anyone who doesn't reside with you.
• American Express Membership Rewards: American Express doesn't allow Membership Rewards points to be transferred. The only exception to this rule is if you have had an authorized user on your card for at least 90 days, in which case you can transfer your points directly to their airline or hotel accounts.
• Citi ThankYou Rewards: Citi allows you to transfer up to 100,000 points per calendar year between ThankYou Rewards accounts. However, your friend will only have 90 days to use your shared points from the time that the points are received, so you should only transfer points if your friend has a plan to use them within three months.
• Capital One miles: At the time of writing, you'll need to call Capital One to do it, but you can share Capital One miles without fees or limits. This is a great way to transfer your Capital One miles to someone else before you close your account.

Related: The best travel credit cards

Bottom line

Pooling your points can help push you over the threshold and subsequently have enough miles for a free trip. From enjoying elite benefits to saving points that would have otherwise been forfeited, it's worth your while to familiarize yourself with the policies related to pooling your points.

Additional reporting by Benji Stawski.