How old do I have to be to join British Airways Executive Club and collect Avios?

In this article I want to look at how old you need to be to join British Airways Executive Club and to earn Avios points, and how you can get around the rules if you don’t qualify.

Executive Club is British Airways’ frequent flyer membership program, allowing you to collect and save Avios, the British Airways equivalent of air miles. Once you save enough, you can choose to spend them by booking reward flights or part-paying cash bookings with Avios to reduce the fare.

Joining the Executive Club also allow you to earn elite status with British Airways, which come with benefits including lounge access, free seat selection, bonus Avios earning rates and many more. You can read a brief explanation of the different British Airways Executive Club tiers here.

What is the minimum age to join British Airways Executive Club?

Joining the Executive Club is free and easy, though you do have to be aged 18 or older.  The easiest way to join is on the British Airways website.

However, there is a way to join the Executive Club if you are younger than 18.  The Executive Club Household Account functionality allows a main account holder to create a networked “family” of accounts that can share Avios balances with each other. 

The Head of the Household can add up to six additional members to this network.

There is no age restriction when accepting an invitation to join a British Airways Household Account, making this a good way for under-18s to join the Executive Club and start earning Avios and tier points.  Do note that children under two years of age will not earn if they are travelling as lap infants.

Your children need to remain members of a Household Account until they become 18. If they are removed from the Household Account before this, their account will be closed and the Avios they have collected will be lost.

There is a longer Head for Points article on the pros and cons of British Airways Household accounts here.

(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.