United Airlines has made a small change to its MileagePlus program, but its impact is big—especially for families and groups traveling together.

Until recently, MileagePlus miles added to a shared pool could only be redeemed for flights operated by United or United Express. But that’s no longer the case. United has expanded miles pooling to include more than 40 partner airlines, opening the door to a wide range of award flight options.

 

What’s Changed?

United launched MileagePlus miles pooling back in 2024. The program allows up to five members of a pool to combine their miles into a shared balance. This feature has made it easier for families and friends to turn small, unused mileage balances into enough miles for an award ticket. Up until now, there was a catch, though: pooled miles could only be used on United-operated flights.

Now, your pooled miles can be redeemed across most of United’s partner network. This includes its Star Alliance partners like Lufthansa, Air Canada, ANA, Singapore Airlines, Turkish Airlines and Air New Zealand.

United confirmed the change in a statement, saying the expansion is intended to give members more flexibility when redeeming miles.

Related: Airlines That Let You Pool Points

 

Why This Is Good News for Families

For most points and miles people, the best United awards aren’t on that airline at all. Some of the program’s more valuable redemptions are with partner airlines. For example, business-class awards to Europe on partner airlines ring in at 88,000 miles each way. Add in the fact that United doesn’t pass along airline-imposed surcharges, and this can be a solid redemption.

 

 

Before this update, pooling miles meant giving up access to those options. Now, families can combine their balances and use those miles for a much broader range of flights.

That’s especially helpful if you’ve been sitting on a few thousand miles in multiple accounts. Instead of letting those balances collect dust, you can combine them and potentially book an award flight that wouldn’t have been possible before.

Related: United MileagePlus®: A Complete Guide To Earning and Redeeming Miles

 

A Few Things To Know

The basic rules of miles pooling remain the same. New members still must wait 72 hours after joining a pool before they can contribute miles, and newly added miles aren’t available for redemption for 24 hours. Members who leave a pool also forfeit any miles they’ve contributed.

Additionally, there are still a few exceptions. United says pooled miles can’t currently be used to book award flights on certain partner airlines, including Olympic Air and Silver Airways, as well as most Hawaiian Airlines flights. However, the change covers the vast majority of United’s partner network, including most of the airlines we’re interested in booking anyway.

 

Bottom Line

MileagePlus pooling was already a useful tool for families and groups. But now, by allowing pooled miles to be redeemed on partner airlines, United has removed one of the feature’s biggest limitations.

If you’ve avoided pooling your miles to access partner awards, it may be worth taking another look.