Not sure what to do with 1,000,000 SAS points? Share them with other members for free.

Here at Frequent Miler central, there’s an electric buzz of a whisper on everyone’s lips: SAS (which sounds a lot like the snake language in Harry Potter when you say it over and over again in a whisper). The reason why is that SAS (Scandinavian Airlines System) recently launched a promotion in honor of its entrance into the SkyTeam alliance that appeals to points and miles junkies far and wide. If you fly at least 15 out of 16/17 eligible SkyTeam partners before the end of 2024 and either credit the flights to SAS or use SAS points, the “airlines system” will give you a hefty one million EuroBonus points.

A million points-sized carrots was sure to drive the team crazy and indeed it did. So much so, that Greg, Nick and Stephen are turning the promo into a “Million Mile Madness” challenge to see who can complete it successfully the fastest, the cheapest and with the most savoir-faire. There’s even some reader prizes on offer…including 100,000 SAS points for three lucky (and talented) folks.

In the process of trying to figuring out if we could give some of the points we earn to other readers, we found that SAS actually has a pretty interesting system for sharing points between small groups of people for free. But, as always, there’s a few catches to be aware of.

The Deal

SAS allows for free points sharing between groups EuroBonus members. Here are the basic outlines:

• Point sharing groups can have a maximum of eight members.
• Each member can only be in one sharing group at a time.
• Groups aren’t limited to family members, any EuroBonus member can be a part of any group.
• When you start or join a point sharing group, all your existing points are transferred to the point sharing account. While you are part of the group all the points that you earn are transferred to the common Point sharing account.
• The owner of the point sharing group can decide who is able to use the group’s points.
• When points are used for a purchase, the points on the account that were earned first will be used.
• You cannot leave a points sharing group until you have been in it for six months.
• Expiration date for any new points earned from the time you joined the point sharing group are calculated against the owners last month of qualification period, which means that all points earned while in the group have the same month for point expiry.
• When leaving a point sharing group any individual points that have not been used will be transferred to your own account
• The owner of a point sharing group can transfer ownership to another group member at any time.

Click here for full details of the SAS point sharing program

Quick Thoughts

First off, in addition to points sharing groups, SAS also offers the ability to transfer points between members. However, this costs around half a cent per point, making it doable but not preferable.

SAS’ points sharing group scheme looks a lot like the on-again/off-again versions that both United and Aeroplan have been attempting recently. The group size is limited to a maximum of eight people, you can’t be in more than one group at a time, there’s a cooling-off period before you can change groups and a group leader decides who can redeem from the pool. I’m assuming that these features are primarily meant as speedbumps in the path of fraudulent mileage brokers.

SAS officially makes it ok for any member to be in any other member’s point sharing group, there’s no requirement that it be a family member. It also adds a couple of gotchas: once you join a group, all your existing and new points will go into it; additionally, when points are used for a reward, they are used in the order that they were added to the pool.

Let’s say that Nick and Stephen joined a group that Greg started. Greg’s points would have been the first added, since he started it, so his points would be depleted first, regardless of who was booking the award. If Greg started with 600K and Stephen and Nick only brought 50K each, they would have to burn through all 600,000 of Greg’s points before they could start using Nick’s and Stephen’s.

That last feature, combined with the inability to choose how many points you want to add to the pool, is probably the most inconvenient aspect of the SAS scheme…and one that makes it most unappealing for casual points and miles buddies. There’s a complicated way around it: if you cancel an award after leaving a group, the points for the award will go back to your individual account. So, in the example above, Greg could book 550K worth of refundable awards so that he’s only using 50K in the pool with Stephen and Nick. He could then wait for six months, leave the pool, cancel the awards, and get his 550K back. But, yuck…that’s a pain.

It’s too bad that mileage brokers make points sharing such a difficult benefit to implement for modern airline rewards programs. Despite the issues and complicated rules, it’s good to see SAS join United and Aeroplan in a quest to try and make it work.

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