How do I close a British Airways Household Account? What happens to the Avios?

How can you close a British Airways Household Account – and what happens to the Avios?

We recently wrote about how to open a British Airways household account in order to pool Avios. In this article we’ll look at how household accounts can be closed.

Only the main ‘head of the household’ account holder is able to close a household account. Before it can be closed, you must remove each member of the household account one at a time.

What happens to children in a BA Household Account?

Any members of the household account above the age of 18 will retain their Executive Club membership and the Avios and tier points they accrued on flights.

However, members under 18 will not be able to maintain their membership since solo Executive Club accounts are only permitted for those aged 18 and above.  Any associated Avios and tier points will be lost upon their removal and cannot be reclaimed.

If you have any children in your household account with a substantial Avios balance it is not advisable to close it.  Until a few years ago, BA used to give Avios from children to the head of the household account but this policy was discontinued.  Ignore any references to this policy which you may see online.

For an adult, once you are no longer part of a household account your Avios will no longer be pooled and you are able to book Avios redemption tickets for anyone.

(This article is part of our ‘BA Q&A’ series which explains how British Airways Executive Club works.  You can see all of our ‘BA Q&A’ articles here. )

(Head for Points is the UK’s biggest frequent flyer website with 2.5 million monthly page views.  Want to learn more about earning and spending Avios?  Click here to read our latest news stories and click here to join the mailing list for our weekly or daily email newsletters.)

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.