Can I book a flight for someone else using Avios points?

Can you book a flight for someone else using your Avios points?  Today I want to look at how flexible your Avios actually are and show you how you can use Avios for someone else.

The good news is that, yes, you can use your Avios points to book flights for anyone you want.  There are a couple of exceptions relating to household accounts which I will cover below.

Booking an Avios reward flight for another person is as easy as booking one for yourself.  You log in to British Airways Executive Club at ba.com, search and select whatever Avios seats are available and proceed to book.

You WON’T need any personal data about the person travelling except for their full name, as stated on their passport.  You don’t need to give the passport number or date of birth at the time of booking – the passenger can add this later via the ‘Manage My Booking’ function of ba.com.

It doesn’t matter whose credit card is used for paying the taxes and charges.  The website will accept a card from you, the passenger or even someone completely different. You will need the home address of the passenger if paying with a credit card registered to them.

You can choose which email address receives the flight confirmation details.  Note that the account holder will ALWAYS receive an email when a booking is made from their account – this is a security function which cannot be disabled.

Can I book Avios flights for someone else if I am in a household account?

Yes you can.

There are many benefits of opening a British Airways Household Account.  This article explains explains how to open a BA household account.  It allows people living at the same address to pool their Avios and even allows you to collect Avios when your children fly, which is not normally allowed.

If you have a Household Account, you can only book for someone outside the Household Account when you add them to your ba.com Family & Friends list.  Once you’ve done this you can go ahead and make the booking.  You cannot remove someone from the Family & Friends list for six months and their are limits on how many people can be on it at one time.

You can learn more about BA’s Family & Friends scheme in this article.

Avios points have great flexibility and it is easy to use them for other people.  That said, make sure that your family and friends know that your Avios were not free (you probably gave up some other reward when you chose to collect Avios from a flight, credit card, hotel or car hire) and that there is a real loss to you if you redeem on their behalf.

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

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

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:

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

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

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

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, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

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.

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

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