Transferring rewards points to your family does not have to be completely frustrating. Instead, it can be something that is simple and easy to do once you know what to do. But it is possible for you or a family member get the vacation of their dreams.

Note that most U.S. airlines rewards programs only allow transferring of miles to another person’s account for a fee.  The HawaiianMiles program is one of the few that allows transferring of miles for free by their credit card and debit card holders, with stipulations.  Here is how to go about transferring your points and miles:

Get a Family Account

Some international frequent flyer programs allow you to easily pool points and miles between family members, including Asiana Airlines, All Nippon Airways (ANA), British Airways, Etihad Airways, Japan Airlines, and Korean Air. jetBlue is the only US airlines that offers family pooling, and while Qantas does not have a family account, they allow you to transfer points to a family member. Be sure to do your research and read the fine print as program stipulations vary.  For example, some allow up to 2 degrees of kinship while others only allow immediate family members, some allow up to 8 family members while others specify only 2 adults and 4 children.

Redeem Reward Points for Others

Most reward programs allow you to redeem points for someone else for no additional cost, except the usual ticket fees.  All you need is their travel times and dates, and their personal information required to issue a ticket. These are usually things like their full names, birthdates, addresses, etc. You can also use a family member’s account, like a child your child whose miles may expire if they travel less often, to book a ticket for yourself.

Transferable Points

Some of the other travel rewards programs, like the Starwood Preferred Guest program, allow account holders to transfer points to other members of the same household. There are specific conditions, but generally points may be transferred between members with active accounts and have shared the same residential mailing address for at least the last 30 days prior to transfer. If your ultimate goal is frequent flier miles, you could then redeem those points for flights. Starpoints can be transferred to over 30 airlines or they can be redeemed for tickets themselves on over 150 airlines.

Transferring miles between family members can be tricky, but it can be extremely rewarding as well.