Use Airline Miles for Someone Else: Awards, Not Transfers

• Allowed

  Delta explicitly permits a member to use miles to book for another passenger

• Not a transfer

  Booking an award in another person’s name differs from transferring points between accounts

• No sale

  Delta prohibits the sale or barter of miles

• Southwest too

  Southwest permits points bookings for others and leaves booking changes with the account holder

Using your airline miles to book a ticket for someone else is a normal, common request, and in some programs it is explicitly allowed. The trouble is that three different ideas get folded into one question, and they have different rules: using your miles to book an award in another person’s name, transferring points from your account to theirs, and changing the passenger on a ticket after it is issued. This guide keeps them separate because the rules, and the risks, differ.

Delta’s official pages permit using miles for another passenger, prohibit selling or bartering miles, and describe an issued award ticket as nontransferable. Southwest’s terms also permit a member to use points for seats for other passengers and say the account holder must make any changes. American and United remain direct-verification rows here.

The three things people conflate

The first operation is using your miles to book an award ticket in another person’s name. The ticket is issued in that passenger’s name, and your miles pay for it. The second is transferring miles from your account into their account, which a program may handle as its own process with its own limits. The third is changing the passenger on an already-issued award ticket, which is a different matter again.

These are not interchangeable, and the mistake that causes problems is assuming that because one is allowed, the others are too. A program can readily let you book an award for a family member while simultaneously forbidding you from selling your miles or reassigning a ticket. Knowing which of the three you are actually doing tells you which rule applies.

The safest mental model is “name at booking is final.” Get the passenger’s name right when you book, because correcting a genuine error and transferring a ticket to a different person are not the same process. The how many points guide covers the cost side, while this page covers who can travel on your miles.

What Delta’s rules actually say

Delta’s official pages, reviewed on 11 August 2026, are the clearest source in this guide. Delta explicitly allows a member to use miles for another passenger, and its pages also describe buying, gifting and transferring miles within the rules the program sets. That is the permissive side of the story, and it is the reason booking for someone else is often a reasonable ask.

The same pages carry the limits. Delta’s rules state that miles cannot be sold or bartered, which frames the balance as a tool for use within the program rather than a currency you can resell. And the issued award ticket is described as nontransferable, which means the passenger named at booking is the passenger who travels. Those three statements — use for another allowed, sale barred, award nontransferable — define Delta’s position.

For the buying, gifting and transfer side, the transfer partner guide explains how points move between programs, which is a related but distinct part of the picture from using miles for a passenger on one booking.

American, United and Southwest: use official language only

The table is deliberately cautious. Delta and Southwest are spelled out because their official terms state the relevant rules. American and United remain marked for direct verification rather than receiving an inferred equivalent. Read the program’s live terms for the booking you are planning because each program controls its own award process.

How to book an award for another passenger

Booking an award for another passenger, when the program allows it, is an ordinary booking: select the itinerary, enter the passenger’s exact legal name, and pay with your miles through the program’s official site. The key is that the name on the award must be the traveler who will fly, because the award is not reassignable after ticketing.

Book through the official program channel rather than a broker. The official site applies the program’s own rules for who may travel, and it keeps the transaction inside the terms that govern the miles. Booking through an outside broker can put you in a position where the program’s own prohibitions, such as on sale or transfer, create a risk you did not sign up for.

Before you pay, confirm the program allows you to use your miles for this passenger. Delta and Southwest are explicit. Southwest also says the account holder—not the passenger—must make changes to a booking made with the member’s points. For American and United, verify the live terms before spending miles.

Transfers, gifts and moving points

Transferring miles, where a program supports it, moves points from your account into another person’s account through a defined process, often with fees, limits and timing. Gifting and donating are related operations some programs describe alongside transfers. Delta’s pages cover buying, gifting and transferring miles within its rules, and the sale or barter of miles is prohibited.

Because transfers are their own operation, do not assume the details of one program’s transfer apply to another. Each sets its own limits and rules. If your goal is to move points to someone else’s account, read the transfer terms for the specific program; if your goal is to book a ticket for them, that is the booking path above. The two are not interchangeable.

For moving value across programs more broadly, the transfer partner comparison explains how points move, which is related but separate from booking a single award for another passenger.

Why an issued award cannot move

Delta’s official rules state directly that an issued award ticket is nontransferable. For a Delta award, the passenger named at booking is the traveler; assigning the issued ticket to somebody else is different from correcting that traveler’s name. Do not treat Delta’s exact wording as universal—check the issuing program’s post-ticket rule.

This is the rule that bites people who book first and sort out the traveler later. Delta does not permit that reassignment, and Southwest leaves booking changes with the points account holder rather than the passenger. Getting the name right at booking avoids relying on a later exception that the program may not offer.

A small correction to fix a spelling error in the correct passenger’s name may follow a separate process, and it is a different thing from changing who travels. If you think a name is wrong on a ticket you just booked, contact the program quickly and explain it is a correction, but understand that a full swap to another person is not the same request.

Brokers, sales and why the rules matter

A mile broker is a third-party service that arranges the use, purchase or resale of loyalty miles or award tickets, typically outside the program’s official channels. Because a miles balance is tied to an account, and programs like Delta explicitly prohibit the sale or barter of miles, engaging with a broker can violate the program’s terms. This guide makes no allegation against any specific person or service; it notes the rule and where the risk sits.

The safer path is to book through the program’s official channel for any award, including one for another passenger. Official bookings apply the program’s own rules and keep the transaction inside your account’s terms. An outside arrangement that asks you to move miles or hand over account access in exchange for a booking is the kind of arrangement that can collide with a program’s anti-sale and anti-transfer rules.

None of this is a claim that every broker is a fraudster. It is a claim that the program’s rules matter, that selling or bartering miles is prohibited by at least the clearest source in this guide, and that staying inside official channels removes a whole class of risk before it starts.

Protecting your account

Your miles are tied to your account, and your account is protected by your credentials. Keeping that login private is your responsibility, and sharing it — especially with a service or with another person for the purpose of a booking — increases the risk that your balance or your personal data is misused. A program’s guarantee after a proven breach is not a promise that you recover a drained balance.

The concrete habits that protect you are simple: use a strong, unique password, keep your login to yourself, and never provide account access to a third party, even one that promises it can find award space. A direct booking on the program’s official site does not require you to hand your credentials to somebody else. If a service asks for account access, stop and assess it against the program’s security rules.

Booking for a family member safely means the family member is the passenger on the ticket, not a second person with your login. The passenger’s name is on the award; your account stays with you. That separation keeps the booking inside the rules and keeps your balance where it belongs.

A before-you-book checklist

1. Separate the operations. Booking for another passenger, transferring points, and changing a passenger after ticketing have different rules.
2. Confirm Delta’s position. It explicitly allows using miles for another passenger, prohibits selling or bartering miles, and makes an issued award nontransferable.
3. Know Southwest’s control rule. It permits a points booking for another passenger, but the account holder controls changes.
4. Verify American and United on their own terms before assuming they follow either program’s rules.
5. Book with the exact legal name of the traveler through the program’s official channel, not a broker.
6. Keep your login private. You can book directly through the official program without handing a third party account access.
7. Recheck the program’s page before you book, because these rules are set and revised by each airline as of 11 August 2026.

Using your miles for someone else is often allowed, and it is also easy to do it wrong. The distinction that governs everything is that booking an award in another passenger’s name is not a transfer and not a post- ticket passenger change. Delta spells this out: you can use miles for another passenger, you cannot sell or barter miles, and an issued award is nontransferable. Southwest also permits bookings for other passengers and keeps changes with the account holder. Verify American and United, book with the traveler’s exact name, and keep your login private.