Last month we told you that it was time to think about mileage purchase as a way of obtaining the miles you need to snag a premium seat. This month we’re going to reintroduce you to a close relative of mileage-purchase—the mileage transfer.

Transfer programs allow you to empty one account into another, at the price of about 1¢ per mile. (That compares to the mileage purchase price of 2.5¢ to 3.5¢ per mile.) The key decision is whether to transfer miles into your account or top off someone else’s. For instance, if your spouse has 13,000 miles in a OnePass account, it makes more sense to add 2,000 miles to bring the account to the 15,000-mile upgrade level.

Three good airlines for using mileage transfers are All Nippon, British Airways, and Japan Airlines because they all transactionshave “Household Account” programs. These allow program members to “pool” miles at little or no charge. (With BA, buy as many miles as you can first, then pool the miles for fast access to inexpensive upgrades.)

Remember: When you reach the annual limit of miles that can be purchased, gifted, or transferred into your account, you can repeat the process with someone else’s—a family member, business associate, anyone—and have them redeem those miles for your travel. Relative to the high cost of premium cabin travel, the cost per mile is low for most upgrades and awards.

One warning: Forget about using mileage transfer clearinghouses like Points.com because they offer poor mileage transfer exchange rates, often costing 85%+ in the process.

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