Air India Family Pool: How to Share Maharaja Club Points
Pool your family's Maharaja Club points into one account. Here's how Family Pool works, who can join, and what to know before setting it up.
Everyone in your family flies Air India, but the points sit in separate accounts. Your spouse has some, your parents have some, the kids have a little each. When you want to redeem, nobody has enough individually.
Family Pool fixes this. It lets you combine points from up to 9 family members into one account, controlled by a Family Head who handles all redemptions.
How Family Pool Works
The Family Head submits a request through Air India's customer support portal. Air India then contacts each family member to get their consent. Members need to reply with their Membership ID, their relationship to the Family Head, and confirm they agree to the terms.
Once everyone confirms, the Family Pool gets created within 7 to 14 working days.
From that point, whenever any member earns points through flights or partners, a portion (or all) of those points automatically flow to the Family Head's account based on the split ratio you chose.
Who Can Create a Family Pool?
To become a Family Head, you need to meet three conditions:
- Be at least 18 years old
- Have been a Maharaja Club member for at least 15 days
- Have flown at least 2 Air India flights on different PNRs credited to your account
Without the 2-flight requirement, you can't create or redeem from a Family Pool.
Who Can Join?
The Family Head can invite:
- Spouse
- Children
- Parents
- Siblings
- Spouse's parents
- Spouse's siblings
Friends don't qualify. If Air India finds out you've added non-family members, they can suspend your account and you'll lose your points.
Each member needs their own Maharaja Club account (minimum age 2 years), with a unique email and phone number that hasn't been used for another Maharaja Club ID.
Maximum 9 members including the Family Head.
Choosing a Split Ratio
When you create the pool, you pick how points get divided. This applies to all members equally.
100:0 – All of every member's points go to the Family Head. Members keep nothing.
75:25 – 75% goes to Family Head, 25% stays with the earning member.
50:50 – Split evenly between Family Head and member.
This includes both existing points and future earnings. Once you pick a ratio, it applies to everyone in the pool.
What the Family Head Controls
Only the Family Head can redeem points from the pool. Members cannot book award flights directly using pooled points. If your spouse wants to use the family's points, they have to ask you to make the booking.
Members also can't transfer points to each other within the pool. And the Family Head can't access points that stayed in a contributor's individual account (the 25% or 50% they kept based on the split ratio).
The One-Year Lock-In
Once someone joins a Family Pool, they can't leave for one year. After that, they can request to exit through customer support.
Here's the important part: if a member leaves, they don't get any points back. Whatever they contributed stays with the Family Head.
If the entire pool dissolves voluntarily, remaining points get split equally among all members with a one-year validity. But you can't transfer the Family Head role to someone else. If the Family Head wants out, the whole pool has to dissolve.
Status Doesn't Transfer
If the Family Head has Gold or Platinum status, that doesn't extend to other members. Everyone's tier is based on their own individual flying activity. The pool only combines points, not elite benefits.
Similarly, points earned by a higher-tier member don't give bonus accruals to other pool members. Each person earns at their own tier rate.
Before You Set It Up
A few things to consider:
- You're locked in for a year
- Leaving members lose their contributed points
- The Family Head has complete control over redemptions
- You can't change the split ratio after creation
- Adding a 10th member means removing someone first (and they lose their points)
Family Pool works well when there's trust and a clear understanding of how points will be used. It's less ideal if family members want to maintain individual control over their earnings.
Bottomline
Family Pool is a practical way to consolidate Maharaja Club points across your household. Set it up once, choose your split, and let everyone's earnings accumulate together. When you have enough for a good redemption, the Family Head books for anyone in the pool.
Just make sure everyone understands the one-year commitment and that leaving means forfeiting your contributions.
