NEWS: Should you sell or exchange your miles or hotel points?

Should you sell your miles or hotel points?

With both Virgin and British Airways making it very difficult to redeem flights for anything other than flights, many people are sitting on a lot of miles. One of the questions I am getting from readers at the moment is whether someone will buy their miles. The short answer is yes, but it not a decision to take without knowing all the facts. Let’s take a look at how to sell them and whether it is a good idea. 

British Airways Avios

The first thing to be aware of is that according to British Airways Terms and conditions you can’t sell your miles:

22.1. Except as otherwise provided by British Airways and AGL and communicated to the Member, Avios points are not transferable (whether from person to person, account to account, statement to statement, card to card or otherwise) other than in accordance with the Conditions of Use and cannot be bequeathed, devised or otherwise transferred by operation of law.

22.2. Any purported purchase, sale, transfer, unauthorised use (including bartering), procurement or redemption of Avios points issued or awarded to another person or any other use of Avios points contrary to these Terms and Conditions will constitute a fundamental breach by the Member of these Terms and Conditions and the Conditions of Use.

22.3. Each Member acknowledges that a breach pursuant to Clause 22.2 above may also constitute an inducement to breach the contract among British Airways, AGL and the Member, intentional damage to the business of British Airways and/or AGL, or conspiracy and criminal offences under the applicable local or national law. Any breach pursuant to Clause 22.2 will constitute Fraud and/or Misconduct and will be dealt with in accordance with Clause 24.

You can legally transfer your miles within the limits of 27,000 per year, but unless you are a Gold Executive Club member there will be a charge. The current charges are

The only other way to “transfer” miles is to add someone to a household account which is for members living at the same address. You can read more about household accounts in this article. 

What you can do easily is to buy flights for another person unless you are in a household account. If you are in a household account that person must be on your friends and family list. 

You also have the option to move miles to another Avios scheme such as Iberia or Aer Lingus, which may offer some other options such as transferring Avios to another Iberia Plus or Aer Club member. 

Virgin Atlantic

Virgin also prohibit the sale of their miles:

9.1. Flying Club Miles, membership and/or Rewards are void if sold, auctioned, bartered, purchased by any other method than through the Virgin Atlantic Airways Buy Miles (including Gift Miles and Transfer Miles) and Miles Booster options, defaced or altered. Such activity is prohibited and may result in denial of travel and/or redemption of the Reward and may also result in the cancellation of all accrued Miles, Rewards and Programme membership. 

9.2. We may refuse to issue Miles or process Reward redemptions if we reasonably believe there has been fraud, breach or failure to fulfil any of these Flying Club Terms or other current restrictions or requirements which have been made available to you. Any breach of these Flying Club Terms or other requirements contained on our website may result in denial of travel and/or redemption of Rewards and cancellation of all Miles, Rewards and termination of Programme membership. We will act reasonably in exercising our rights under this paragraph.

You can share miles in a variety of ways depending on your status.  Members can nominate one or more people as an “Authorised Account User”. An Authorised Account User will be able to make bookings on the Member’s behalf and redeem Miles from the your account, for themselves, you or a third party, without the need for confirmation from the Member. 

If you are a Gold member of the Flying Club, you can set up a household account with up to 9 people who live at the same address.

Hilton hotels

Hilton does not allow you to sell your miles:

The sale of Hilton Honors Points, Rewards or other benefits, other than by Hilton Honors is expressly prohibited. Any improper usage of Hilton Honors Points shall be grounds for immediate confiscation and forfeit of such Points, and may be grounds for the forfeiture of all Points in the Member’s account and the Member’s ejection from the Hilton Honors Program, all as determined within Hilton Honors’ sole discretion.

Hilton hotels do allow pooling of miles as well as transfers. Hilton Honors Members can transfer Hilton Honors Points to another Hilton Honors Member through Points Pooling or 1-to-1 transfer in increments of 1,000 Points and up to 500,000. You can make 6 transfers or redeem from six points pools in a year.

So can you sell miles and points or not?

It is possible to sell your miles and points online. A quick google will come up with a number companies willing to help you do so.

From what I can ascertain, you don’t actually transfer your miles or points to them. They make a purchase from your account which means having to give them your log in details. This is obviously less easy for the company to spot, but if you suddenly start redeeming for people all around the world, then it would not be inconceivable this could red flag your account.

So if I got caught what would happen? Well, the most likely outcome is that your account would be frozen and you would lose your status and points/miles permanently. 

In summary, you can try to sell your miles online but I would strongly advise against doing so unless you are willing to lose your miles and loyalty account permanently. 

Is there anything else I can do with my miles? I’m worried the airline will go bust?

There is one remaining option which is legal. This is to exchange the points via Points.com which is a legitimate business. If you buy points or miles you will often see that the company you are redirected to is points.com. The bad news is that they only have a very limited amount of transfer partners. The exchange rate is also terrible. But it is free to exchange them for other points or miles.  The partners you may interested in are: