Originally Posted by rflor

Apologies if this was covered upthread but I discovered an interesting quirk in using a pool today.

I created a pool and added my wife. She adds 160,000 miles to the pool. I have not added any.

I go to book an award ticket, and get a "Redeeming with pooled miles is not eligible for this ticket."

I add 50,000 miles to the pool, and even though they show as "pending", I am now able to book the ticket.

I guess United wants to ensure the pool leader has skin in the game?