Earning miles from a StarAlliance flight onto a single United MileagePlus Account?

Question

For United, I understand that each traveler can only earn miles on flights they will take, and that miles cannot be accumulated into a single account for multiple travelers on the same flight (although there are loopholes etc. but that's quite a murky area to get into).

However, would it be possible to earn United Miles for multiple travelers onto a single United Account when traveling on another StarAlliance airlines? In my case there are 2 others whom I'm travelling with on an EVA Air flight, and I'd like to transfer the miles we collectively gain onto a single United MileagePlus Account. Will this be possible, or will we only be able to add them onto our own individual United MileagePlus Accounts?

Answer 1

This is not possible. MileagePlus accounts are strictly tied to individual people, and only the member who flew can accrue miles. The name on your account must match the name on your ticket, and the name on your ticket must match a government-issued ID. This is true whether you're flying on a United-operated flight or one operated by a partner.

It is possible to pay to transfer miles between accounts, but the fees are quite hefty and can easily approach the approximate value of the miles.

This applies to most airlines, but a handful have exceptions, with particular rules and conditions. For example, British Airways has Household Accounts, Emirates has Family Bonus members, JetBlue has Family Pooling, and Asiana has the Family Mileage Plan and Mileage Transfer. As Asiana is a Star Alliance airline, it might be possible for you to all open accounts over there, if you're all family members, but those miles would be separate from those in your MileagePlus accounts and wouldn't help you gain status on United.