There is no such general rule across all airline, hotel, and credit-card programs. Some such programs allow for free inter-spousal transfers; some programs allow for the pooling of points by all members of a household. American Airlines permits an AAdvantage member to transfer points to any other member for a fee; transfers to a spouse are subject to the same fee.

Points earned from a welcome bonus are treated the same as points earned by organic spend on a card when it comes to transferability.

But it is frequently unnecessary to combine points to achieve a desired result: a seven-night hotel stay can be broken up into separate bookings of five nights and two nights or four nights and three nights. Each of those separate bookings can be paid for with points from a different spouse. Similarly, a roundtrip flight for two people does not have to be paid for with points or cash from a single person's account. You can purchase a roundtrip for yourself while your wife purchases a roundtrip for herself. Or, in those markets where a one-way prices at half the cost of a roundtrip, you could purchase a roundtrip for yourself and a one-way for your wife, and she could purchase a one-way in the other direction herself.