How to earn Avios points when your child flies

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Yesterday I looked at how to use both BA and avios.com Household Accounts as part of our ‘Avios Redemption University’ series.

As we’re talking about Household Accounts, I wanted to look at an extra quirk linked to these which lets you get around the rules on children being blocked from British Airways Executive Club.

As most people know, children cannot join British Airways Executive Club in their own right.

There is, however, no need to miss out on any Avios points when your children are flying on a cash ticket. They can become a member of a Household Account and therefore earn Avios and tier points.

But, of course, there is a snag if you are a member of a Household Account – you can only redeem your Avios for members of the Household Account or the six people on your ‘Family and Friends’ list. That was a definite ‘no-go’ for me, since I often redeem miles for different people and needed full flexibility to redeem for anyone.

How do you get around this?

I took a slightly oblique route to get around these conflicting points.

My children sit in a Household Account with two of their grandparents. My wife and I each retain our stand-alone BAEC accounts.

This gives us the best of both worlds:

I can benefit from the Avios points when my children fly, via a Household Account with their grandparents
I can continue to redeem my Avios for absolutely anyone as required without being restricted by the ‘Family and Friends’ rules

How do you add a child to a Household Account?

First, you need to have a Household Account, which means deciding which adult BAEC member you want to be the head. If that person is not already a BAEC member, they need to sign-up.

Inside ‘Manage My Account‘ on ba.com, when you are signed-in, is an option called ‘My Household Account‘. Click on this to start the process. You can then issue invitations to people who you want to join your account.

Once the Household Account is formed, you can easily add a child. The head of the Household Account will see an option inside ‘Manage My Account’ called ‘My Household Account’. Click that to be taken to a summary of your HH account. Select ‘Manage My Household Account’. There is a button here called ‘Add New Member’. You can add a child during this process with no problem – the application will not be rejected if they are under 18 years old, unlike a standard BAEC application.

A loophole now closed?

A couple of years ago, there was one interesting tweak if you had a child who would not be flying with BA again for some reason.

Breaking up a Household Account led to the accounts belonging to any children being closed and the miles transferred to the head of the account. However, a reader told me last year that this no longer worked and that the Avios held by the children were now lost. If anyone has any further recent examples of this situation do let me know.

How to earn Avios points from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

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

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

British Airways BA Amex American Express card

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

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

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a 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, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

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: