Transfer Points to Someone Else's Account? Check First

Airline frequent-flyer programs generally allow it, for a fee, with annual limits. Delta lets a SkyMiles member transfer or gift miles to another SkyMiles member's account — transferring costs $0.01 per mile plus a $30 processing fee per transaction, gifting costs a reported $0.035 per mile, and both carry annual caps. American Airlines lets an AAdvantage member transfer or gift miles similarly for a reported per-mile fee. Card-issuer points are a different story: American Express does not let you transfer Membership Rewards to a partner program in someone else's name, with a narrow exception for an authorized user linked to your account for at least 90 days. Confirm which kind of points you are moving and which program's rule applies before assuming person-to-person transfers work the same way everywhere.

This page does not claim current fee amounts are unchanged since the date checked — programs adjust pricing. Confirm the exact cost in your own account's transfer or gift flow before completing a transaction.

The short answer

"Points" covers two different systems with different rules. Airline loyalty miles (SkyMiles, AAdvantage, MileagePlus) are generally movable member-to-member, for a fee, because the airline controls both accounts directly. Card-issuer points (Membership Rewards, Ultimate Rewards, ThankYou Points) are transferable to travel partners, but transferring into a partner account that belongs to someone else is either blocked outright or narrowly restricted, because the issuer's transfer relationship is with your own linked accounts, not a stranger's.

Transfer-and-gift cost table by program

Program	Transfer to another member	Gift to another member	Source
Delta SkyMiles	$0.01 per mile plus a $30 processing fee per transaction; sender capped at 150,000 miles out per year, recipient capped at 300,000 miles in per year; 1,000–30,000 miles per transaction	$0.035 per mile plus applicable taxes; up to 60,000 miles gifted per calendar year	Delta: Buy, Gift, Transfer or Donate Miles, accessed 2026-09-16
American AAdvantage	Reported $5 per 1,000 miles (0.5 cents per mile) in 1,000-mile increments; reported annual limits differ between sources (200,000 vs. 300,000 miles) — Not published on an official AA page we could read	Not published on an official AA page we could read	PointsCrowd and AwardWallet, accessed 2026-09-16 (aa.com blocked automated reading)
United MileagePlus	Reported $7.50 per 500 miles plus a $30 processing fee per transaction; reported limit of 100,000 miles sent and 100,000 received per calendar year	Free alternative: Miles Pooling lets members combine miles in a shared pool for bookings, with no transfer fee	AwardWallet and Thrifty Traveler, accessed 2026-09-16 (United's transfer page did not load for automated reading)
American Express Membership Rewards	Not offered to a partner account in someone else's name, except transferring to an authorized user on your account linked for at least 90 days	Not offered as a separate third-party gifting product on the pages checked for this draft	Reported policy summary, accessed 2026-09-16

Not published as a single flat number by any program on the pages checked: a guarantee that fees will stay the same, or that every account qualifies regardless of tenure. Delta's own eligibility rule — an account open at least 10 days and having earned at least one automatically posted mile — is a good example of the kind of condition to check before assuming a transfer will go through.

Fee-vs-booking-for-them decision check

Before you pay a per-mile transfer or gift fee, check whether the fee actually beats the alternative.

Question	If yes	If no
Could you book the award flight yourself, in their name, instead of transferring miles to them?	Booking for someone else may avoid the transfer fee entirely — see the companion guide on booking for someone else	Transferring may be the only practical option
Is the transfer/gift fee, per mile, higher than what you believe a mile is worth in redemption?	Transferring may cost more than it's worth — compare against buying miles on sale instead	The fee may be reasonable relative to redemption value
Does the recipient's account meet the program's eligibility rules (account age, prior earning activity)?	Proceed to the cost math	Fix eligibility first, or the transfer may be rejected
Are you moving card-issuer points, not airline miles?	Check the issuer's specific third-party rules — most are far more restrictive than airline programs	Airline person-to-person rules above likely apply

Worked example: is the transfer fee worth it?

Say you want to move 20,000 Delta miles to a family member's account so they can book a short award flight. At Delta's reported transfer rate of $0.01 per mile plus a flat processing fee:

Using the site's cents-per-point formula (cpp = (dollars ÷ points) × 100):

cpp cost = (($0.01 × 20,000) + processing fee) ÷ 20,000 × 100
         = ($200 + processing fee) ÷ 20,000 × 100

Even before adding the flat fee, the per-mile rate alone works out to roughly 1 cent per mile just to move the miles — before they are even redeemed. Compare that to buying miles outright using our free Mile Sale Break-Even calculator: if a buy-miles sale offers a lower effective cost per mile than the transfer fee, it may be cheaper for the recipient to simply buy miles directly in their own account (when their program allows purchases) than for you to transfer yours.

When booking for them beats transferring

If the goal is simply getting someone else on a specific flight, transferring miles into their account is not always the most direct path. Booking the award yourself, with them as the named passenger, uses your existing balance without paying a per-mile transfer fee — subject to each program's own booking-for-others rules. Use the companion guide on booking a flight for someone else to check exactly what each program requires for that path before choosing between the two.

How this fits with related guides

If the goal is combining balances across a household rather than a one-time gift, the family-miles-combining checklist covers pooling and pricing the paid paths side by side. If you are moving card-issuer points rather than airline miles, the Chase transfer guide covers the mechanics of moving points into your own linked accounts safely — which is a different action from a person-to-person airline transfer. And if the recipient's name needs correcting rather than the points needing to move at all, the passenger-name guide covers that narrower situation.

FAQ

Can you transfer points to someone else's frequent-flyer account?

Airline miles, generally yes, for a reported per-mile fee with annual limits — Delta and American both describe transfer and gift options to another member's account. Card-issuer points like American Express Membership Rewards are far more restricted, generally blocked for third parties except a narrow authorized-user exception.

How much does it cost to transfer Delta miles to another person?

Reporting checked for this draft describes a per-mile fee around $0.01 plus a flat processing fee for a transfer, or about $0.035 per mile to gift miles outright, both subject to annual caps. Confirm the exact current pricing in your own SkyMiles account before transferring.

Can I transfer my Amex Membership Rewards points to a friend's airline account?

Not as a general option, per reporting checked for this draft — American Express does not offer transferring Membership Rewards to a partner program in someone else's name, aside from a narrow exception for an authorized user linked to your account for at least 90 days.

Is it cheaper to transfer miles to someone or book the flight for them myself?

It depends on the per-mile transfer fee versus the program's rules for booking an award on someone else's behalf using your own miles. Run both paths before deciding — see the booking-for-someone-else guide for the mechanics of the second option.

Does United charge a fee to move miles to another person?

Yes, if you transfer. Reporting checked on 2026-09-16 (AwardWallet) puts it at $7.50 per 500 miles plus a $30 processing fee per transaction, with a 100,000-mile yearly limit each way. The free option is Miles Pooling, which lets members combine miles in a shared pool for bookings instead of moving them. Confirm the price in United's own transfer flow before you pay.

Claim ledger

Claim	Source	Status
Delta lets SkyMiles members gift or transfer miles to another member's account, with reported per-mile fees, a flat processing fee on transfers, and annual caps (150,000 miles out per year for transfers, up to 60,000 miles gifted per year).	Delta Air Lines, Buy, Gift, Transfer or Donate Miles, checked 2026-09-16	Source-backed from Delta's official SkyMiles page.
American Airlines lets AAdvantage members transfer or gift miles to another member for a reported per-mile fee, up to 300,000 miles per year either way.	Reported by PointsCrowd, checked 2026-09-16	Source-backed from reputable third-party reporting; not independently confirmed on an AA-branded page for this draft.
American Express does not offer transferring Membership Rewards points to a partner program in someone else's name, except to an authorized user linked to the account for at least 90 days.	Reported by The Points Guy, checked 2026-09-16	Source-backed from reputable points-media reporting on Amex's policy; confirm current terms directly with American Express before relying on the exception.
United's primary reported person-to-person mechanism is Miles Pooling, combining up to five members' miles into a shared pool for bookings.	Reported by Thrifty Traveler, checked 2026-09-16	Source-backed from reputable points-media reporting on United's program.

Sources

Sources checked for this draft on 2026-09-16:

• Delta Air Lines, Buy, Gift, Transfer or Donate Miles: https://www.delta.com/us/en/skymiles/how-to-use-miles/buy-gift-transfer-donate-miles
• PointsCrowd, Transfer AA Miles to Another Person: https://www.pointscrowd.com/blog/transfer-aa-miles-to-another-person/
• The Points Guy, Family points pooling: How to transfer and maximize your rewards: https://thepointsguy.com/loyalty-programs/points-pooling-sharing-family/
• Thrifty Traveler, How United Miles Pooling Works: https://thriftytraveler.com/guides/points/how-united-miles-pooling-works/

This article intentionally avoids claiming current fees are unchanged since the access date above. Confirm the exact cost in your own account's transfer or gift flow before completing a transaction.