How do I open an Avios family account?

How can you open an Avios family account?

As part of the Executive Club, British Airways allows you to create a household account for your family in order to share and pool Avios. In this article we’ll look at how British Airways family accounts work.

Creating a family account is free and can be done easily on the British Airways Executive Club site here. The household account creator must already be a member of Executive Club.

It’s worth noting that very few airlines offer family accounts, and of those that do, many are less flexible than British Airways. British Airways is genuinely market leading in what it offers here.

Up to seven people are allowed to join a single household account.  Following a rule change in November 2021, you do NOT need to share the same address to be in a household account.

How are Avios earned and spent inside a British Airways family account?

Once you are part of a family account, your Avios are pooled for spending. This means that someone else in your household account can spend your Avios.

When Avios are redeemed by someone in a family account, the Avios are taken from each person’s balance as a percentage of the total household balance.

For example, if three people are in a family account and Person A has 50% of the total Avios and the remaining two people have 25% each, the amount deducted will correspond to the percentage they own: 50% of the Avios spent will come from Person A whilst 25% will be deducted from the accounts of Person B and C. It is not possible to change this.

This is the only way for a child to collect Avios

Family accounts are the only way for under-18s to hold an Executive Club account. By adding a child to the household account they are automatically enrolled in Executive Club, allowing them to earn Avios on flights and pool them with the household account.  We explained more about how children can collect Avios in this article.

There are a few limitations to household accounts. You can only make changes to the family account once every six months.

Importantly, whilst standard Executive Club members can book free Avios flight tickets for anyone, once you are part of a family account you can only purchase Avios tickets for other members of the same account, or for people on your ‘Friends and Family’ list.

You can add up to five people to your ‘Friends and Family’ list.  This is separate to your Household Account and is created and controlled by the head of the Household Account. Your Avios will not be pooled with them. You can only remove someone from this list once they have been on it for six months or longer.

This article explains how to close a British Airways Household Account if you change your mind later on, and explains what happens to your Avios. Any Avios belonging to a child will be lost if it is removed from the family account.

(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. )

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (January 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.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

50,000 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.