Best Miles & Points Programs for Families
Traveling with family, whether young or old, is different than just traveling solo or with your significant other and that extends to your miles and points programs. How you pick the ones to use and how you use your earned miles and points can all change to better benefit your family. Certain programs allow for family seats together, free checked bags, loyalty points pooling — all things that can benefit your growing travel team.
JetBlue is a great airline if your end goal is to pool your miles. JetBlue TrueBlue members can pool miles without a fee if your family includes fewer than three adults and six children (under the age of 21). A “head of household” manages the pooling of the points in a TrueBlue account.
British Airways also allows you to pool your family’s miles. Additional perks for families include no last-minute booking fees and a minimal award ticket cancellation fee. British Airways Executive Club members can also book American Airlines award tickets using Avios and even receive complimentary priority access. With British Airways, the only way for a child to earn Avios is to be a part of the Household Account, which can include seven people who live at the same address.
Hilton Honors rewards program has relatively low thresholds for gold elite status compared to other hotel rewards programs and you can easily achieve gold status faster through various promotions that occur throughout the year. Gold status is a great mid-tier hotel elite status for families, as it comes with special perks like hotel lounge access, free breakfast and free WiFi.
Hyatt’s World of Hyatt program can be generous to families, with free hotel nights starting for relatively small amounts. You can also earn those points through rewards credit cards you might already have in your wallet, like the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, which transfers the points into the Hyatt program at a 1:1 ratio. Additionally, if you have top-tier elite status, you’ll receive four confirmed suite upgrades!
If you’re a family that heads to Disney on a regular basis, you need Disney Rewards. Choose from two Visa cards and then start earning points for your everyday purchases that you can redeem for airline travel statements or for Disney-esque perks, like park and resort fees, movies, Disney Cruise Line packages and more.
