How do I open a British Airways Executive Club Household Account?

How can you open a British Airways Household Account?

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

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

Creating a household 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.

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 Household Account?

Once you are part of a household 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 household 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 household 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

Household 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 household 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 household 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 a Household 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. )

(Head for Points is the UK’s biggest frequent flyer website with 2.6 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 (December 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 14th January 2025, the sign-up bonus on ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is increased to 30,000 Membership Rewards points. This converts into 30,000 Avios. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 14th January 2025, the sign-up bonus on The Platinum Card from American Express is increased to 80,000 Membership Rewards points. This converts into 80,000 Avios! The spend requirement is changed to £10,000 in six months for this offer. Click here to apply.

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 9th December 2024, there are EXCLUSIVE sign-up offers for our readers on the two Capital on Tap small business Visa cards. You can earn 20,000 points on the Business Rewards card and 30,000 points on the new Pro card. Click here to apply.

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

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.