Can Spouses Combine Miles?
Dec 8, 2001, 7:23 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Naples, FL, USA
Posts: 24
Can Spouses Combine Miles?
Can my wife & I combine our AA miles to claim one free ticket?
Dec 8, 2001, 7:35 am
#2
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Stamford, CT - AA Lifetime Plat - 3MM and counting. Mosaic.
Posts: 215
Unfortunately not. The only time they allow combining is to a surviving spouse. For a free ticket, it's just not worth it!
Dec 8, 2001, 8:11 am
#3
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Stockholm/Tokyo/Los Angeles
Programs: AA EXP, Hyatt Platinum, SPG Platinum
Posts: 558
Is BA the only FF program with the Household account feature, wherein up to four people in the same household can combine their miles? I think this is a great feature, one which other airlines should really adopt.
/gwl
/gwl
Dec 8, 2001, 10:34 am
#4
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Cambridge
Posts: 63,617
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by bombayhog:
Is BA the only FF program with the Household account feature, wherein up to four people in the same household can combine their miles? I think this is a great feature, one which other airlines should really adopt.
/gwl</font>
Is BA the only FF program with the Household account feature, wherein up to four people in the same household can combine their miles? I think this is a great feature, one which other airlines should really adopt.
/gwl</font>
Dec 8, 2001, 11:12 am
#5
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: OKC
Posts: 357
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by certils:
Unfortunately not. The only time they allow combining is to a surviving spouse. For a free ticket, it's just not worth it!</font>
Unfortunately not. The only time they allow combining is to a surviving spouse. For a free ticket, it's just not worth it!</font>
Dec 8, 2001, 11:59 am
#6
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Vancouver, WA, USA
Posts: 184
Maybe "officially" AA doesn't allow you to combine miles between spouses, but when trying to figure a way to upgrade both myself and my husband last January, AAdvantage offered me that option (pulling miles from my husband's account into mine). So, perhaps it is worth asking about......the worst they can say is no :-)
Dec 8, 2001, 10:28 pm
#7
Join Date: Oct 2001
Posts: 61
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by 4miles:
Are you saying that if I die, my wife can still use my miles? And vice versa?
</font>
Are you saying that if I die, my wife can still use my miles? And vice versa?
</font>
ExecDeskRep
Dec 8, 2001, 11:39 pm
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: IAD
Programs: AA Lifetime Platinum
Posts: 27,067
Several hotel programs allow this (Hilton, Starwood). It may be possible to use Hilton to allow miles to be combined, but the exchange ratio AA->Hilton is so bad that it does not seem worth it. With some other airlines where the ratio Airline->Hilton is double that of AA->Hilton, it may be a smaller penalty to transfer miles from the airline to Hilton, and then use Hilton points to get a free airline ticket.
Continental had a unique promotion which allowed miles to be transferred from one account to another for a fee.
Continental had a unique promotion which allowed miles to be transferred from one account to another for a fee.
Dec 9, 2001, 9:40 am
#9
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: Where the West begins !
Posts: 987
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
A written request, copy of will showing spouse survivorship, copy of the death certificate, and a check for $100.00 </font>
A written request, copy of will showing spouse survivorship, copy of the death certificate, and a check for $100.00 </font>
Dec 9, 2001, 3:20 pm
#10
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: OKC
Posts: 357
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ExecDeskRep:
That's correct, 4miles. A written request, copy of will showing spouse survivorship, copy of the death certificate, and a check for $100.00 (I believe that's the correct amount) and the miles will be transferred into the surviving spouse's account.
ExecDeskRep</font>
That's correct, 4miles. A written request, copy of will showing spouse survivorship, copy of the death certificate, and a check for $100.00 (I believe that's the correct amount) and the miles will be transferred into the surviving spouse's account.
ExecDeskRep</font>
" An affadavit, death certificate and $50.00 transfer fee is what is needed to transfer deceased miles."
Wow-this is new info that I never knew. I was always concerned that if I expired with all those miles my wife couldn't use them. thanks
Dec 9, 2001, 4:14 pm
#11
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Bellevue, WA - AA EXP 3MM
Posts: 2,756
I'm trying to think through how this will affect demand (as manifested via load factors, fares, upgrade policies, etc.) on both BA and AA.
The obvious outcome is that at least some of the folks who currently fly AA to LHR will switch to BA. Flat beds in J are nice going east, after all, and I think most people would find BA's F product superior to AA's (with the possible exception of the Flagship Suite -- only available on some LHR routes, but not from my own BOS, for example). All this suggests that to keep at least J loads balanced, BA would need to charge higher fares, AA would need to offer more bonus miles on its own metal, or the market would need to equilibriate in some other way.
Has anyone else thought this through? Sketched out specific possible methods of assuring that loads and fares remain in balance? Estimated how big a factor this might be? I didn't find anything in a quick Google search or a quick search of this forum and BA's, but there may be threads or columns that lurk nonetheless.
My own guess: When buying J fares, I'd probably stick with AA and upgrade to F (which I don't expect to be able to do on BA, of course). If no AA F upgrade were available (for whatever reason), I'm pretty sure I'd choose BA over AA in transatlantic eastbound J, especially if LHR connections and lounges remain as they are now, but for perhaps 10000 extra miles each way, AA could keep my busines on their metal. (Not sure 10000 miles is really my price, though. Have to think about this some more!...)
The obvious outcome is that at least some of the folks who currently fly AA to LHR will switch to BA. Flat beds in J are nice going east, after all, and I think most people would find BA's F product superior to AA's (with the possible exception of the Flagship Suite -- only available on some LHR routes, but not from my own BOS, for example). All this suggests that to keep at least J loads balanced, BA would need to charge higher fares, AA would need to offer more bonus miles on its own metal, or the market would need to equilibriate in some other way.
Has anyone else thought this through? Sketched out specific possible methods of assuring that loads and fares remain in balance? Estimated how big a factor this might be? I didn't find anything in a quick Google search or a quick search of this forum and BA's, but there may be threads or columns that lurk nonetheless.
My own guess: When buying J fares, I'd probably stick with AA and upgrade to F (which I don't expect to be able to do on BA, of course). If no AA F upgrade were available (for whatever reason), I'm pretty sure I'd choose BA over AA in transatlantic eastbound J, especially if LHR connections and lounges remain as they are now, but for perhaps 10000 extra miles each way, AA could keep my busines on their metal. (Not sure 10000 miles is really my price, though. Have to think about this some more!...)
Dec 10, 2001, 2:57 am
#12
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: HKG
Posts: 1,077
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by bombayhog:
Is BA the only FF program with the Household account feature, wherein up to four people in the same household can combine their miles? I think this is a great feature, one which other airlines should really adopt.
/gwl</font>
Is BA the only FF program with the Household account feature, wherein up to four people in the same household can combine their miles? I think this is a great feature, one which other airlines should really adopt.
/gwl</font>