How to share Avios: Smart ways to use your points

For Avios collectors like you and I, the excitement of the Avios Game really begins when a hard earned points balance transforms into a Business Class flight, a long-haul adventure holiday or a luxury escape that would otherwise cost considerably more if you booked it with cash. It’s the ultimate proof that you’re winning. But what about if you want to share Avios?

Sometimes, as strange as it might sound, you might not want to use those Avios just for yourself. You may be planning a Business Class trip with your partner, looking to help a family member get away from it all, or trying to get everyone onto the same flight for a special family holiday. If that sounds like you, you’ll be happy to hear that your Avios don’t have to be used exclusively for your own travel – although I personally like to hoard mine!

There are several ways to share Avios, and the benefits of your points with other people, even if they don’t collect themselves. The trick is knowing which one makes the most sense in each situation. Let’s take a look.

Can you use Avios for someone else?

The simple answer is yes. You can use your Avios to book a reward flight for another person, even if they aren’t travelling with you.

To book a reward seat for someone else, on British Airways, or Iberia, you’ll need to make the booking yourself on the airline website, and you’ll need to provide the traveller’s full name as it appears on their passport. Make sure you triple check the details on the two match to prevent any mishaps! 

If you’re using a British Airways Household Account, or Iberia Club Family Account there are additional requirements around adding people to your friends and family list before booking for them, in cases where you may be pooling points. Make sure you read up on those first. You still find the reward seat the same way you usually do, with a reward flight finder, or by logging into your Avios loyalty account. That bit doesn’t change.

This is the easiest way to share Avios because the points stay in your account until you redeem them. You don’t need to move them around anywhere or add in extra steps. And there’s obviously something very comforting in knowing your Avios are exactly where you think they are. 

It’s particularly attractive when you’re trying to secure a sought-after Business Class flight, especially with a British Airways Club Suite seat. Rather than transferring thousands of Avios to another person and then hoping the reward availability you previously spotted remains when it’s their time to book, you can simply make the booking yourself, and rest easy knowing it’s all sorted.

Book a reward flight for someone else

If you’re looking for the fastest, hassle-free way to share your Avios, this is where I’d start. You don’t have to physically send someone your points for them to benefit from them. You can use your own Avios points pot to book their reward flight. Say you’ve built up a juicy 150,000 Avios balance, and want to take your partner to New York in Business Class. If the reward seats are available, you can use your Avios to make the booking for them rather than transferring the points into their account first. The same applies if you’re booking for a child, parent or friend.

Why this can be the smartest option

This is the ‘truest’ way of sharing Avios. You’re using the points for their intended purpose – a flight – without creating an additional transfer between accounts.  It’s especially useful when you’re paying for someone’s flight as a gift, you’re travelling together, the other traveller doesn’t have enough Avios, you want to avoid unnecessary transfers (and fees), or you’re trying to book limited premium-cabin availability. 

At this point, it’s prudent to remind you that a handful of reward seats in British Airways Club World or First can disappear quickly on popular long-haul routes such as Tokyo, the Maldives or Singapore. British Airways reward availability is already highly competitive, there’s no need to make it even more painful for yourself. 

Avios collectors making one-off bookings, couples, families and those of you gifting a flight are best suited to this method. 

Create or use a British Airways Household Account

If you regularly travel as a family, a BA Household Account (or Iberia Club Family Account) can make sharing Avios considerably easier. Rather than treating every person’s Avios balance in isolation, and booking in a haphazard way, a Household Account allows eligible members to pool their points for redemptions. I find my Household Account invaluable when I’m planning a family holiday and everyone has been earning Avios separately. I can keep (and track) them all in one place, making my holiday planning so much easier. The grown up in charge of the family holiday will know exactly what I mean. 

My husband and I earn points through every day spending, flights and hotel stays, and our children have smaller balances of their own through flying. When it comes to splurging on a big redemption, individually, we might not have enough to unlock the trip I want to book for us. But by using my BA Household Account we do.  

One detail to point out. When you redeem Avios from a Household Account, the points are deducted from the individual members’ balances on a proportional basis. This doesn’t really matter unless one of you is saving their Avios for a separate trip or has a Companion Voucher strategy. But in those cases, you’ll need to plan ahead for that.

Why families should consider a Household Account

In my humble opinion, the best benefit with this option is convenience. Especially for the planner of the house. You don’t need to move points manually every time you want to make a reward flight booking. You don’t need to chase down who has how many points to hand. Instead, your household’s balances contribute towards a shared redemption.

I find this one to be super useful for families with children. Just remember, Avios states that a recipient under 18 who receives transferred Avios must be a member of a Household Account in order to redeem them. Like anything, there are rules around Household Accounts and who can be included, so check the current British Airways Club conditions before setting one up.

Transfer Avios to another person

There might be times that you want to help a family member build their own Avios balance, or you want to give them the flexibility to decide when and where they want to spend the points you give them. 

In that situation, you can transfer Avios directly to another British Airways (or Iberia) Club member. But, there are some important caveats to understand before doing so. According to the current Avios terms, transfers must be made in multiples of 1,000 Avios, with a maximum of 200,000 Avios that someone can make during a calendar year. A recipient can also receive up to 200,000 transferred Avios per calendar year. But no more.

You’ll need the recipient’s full name, email address and Club membership number as registered on their account to make the transfer. And there’s something I’d really like to stress when it comes to this. An Avios transfer is permanent. Once you’ve moved the points, the transaction cannot be reversed and the Avios cannot be returned to you. So, before hitting the transfer button, make sure you’re certain that it’s what you want to do.

When is transferring Avios worthwhile?

I’d only really consider transferring Avios to someone else’s account when the recipient genuinely needs ownership of the points. If they’re saving for a future trip of their own and you won’t be travelling with them, if they have a specific redemption in mind and you’re happy to lend a hand, if they need to top up their balance to reach a particular reward or status, or you want to give them Avios rather than a particular flight. I have previously given someone Avios as a wedding gift. It contributed to their honeymoon in South Africa. In my book, that was a great way to use my points. And the happy couple were very grateful. 

Don’t confuse transferring Avios with combining your own points

This one isn’t technically about sharing points with another person, but it’s an essential tip for all Avios collectors, so I’m including it here. If you don’t have a clear, organised collection strategy, you may have Avios sitting across more than one Avios loyalty programme in your own name. If that’s the case, you’ll be happy to know that you can move Avios between your own accounts.

This comes in handy if you’ve collected points through different Avios-earning airlines, such as British Airways and Qatar Airways, Iberia or Aer Lingus and want to consolidate them before booking a reward seat. Sometimes one airline doesn’t fly the particular route you want to take, or maybe there’s a different Business Class experience you want to try.  In that case, members of a Household Account can link their own individual loyalty account to another participating programme, provided their personal details match. Each household member can move Avios only from their own balance.

There’s a very important distinction here. When you transfer Avios, you’re adding points to another person’s account. But when you’re moving your own Avios, you’re consolidating your own points between participating accounts. They don’t go to someone else. Keeping your Avios all in one place makes collection and planning so much easier.

What is the best way to share Avios?

As you can see, it really depends on what you’re trying to achieve. That’s the key thing to remember. 

If you want to book a reward seat for your partner, child or family member – book the reward flight yourself. If you’re looking to combine your Avios points power as a family, then set up a BA Household Account (or Iberia Club Family Account). When it comes to gifting someone Avios to spend for themselves – transfer Avios to them. If your aim is to consolidate your own Avios to prevent scattered, useless balances, then move them between your own accounts. 

For me, the key takeaway is simple: don’t transfer Avios just because someone else is going to use them. If the end goal is a flight, you may be able to book that flight directly from your own account, and save yourself some hassle.

Sharing Avios can be particularly useful for premium travel

This is where your sharing strategy becomes more interesting. Avios can be especially valuable when they’re used towards premium-cabin travel, where the equivalent cash fare can be substantial. A long-haul business class Avios redemption can turn a sizable points balance into a completely different travel experience – a lie-flat bed, lounge access and a far more comfortable journey.

And if you’re travelling as a couple or family, being able to use one person’s Avios balance to help another traveller can make the difference between everyone flying in the same cabin and splitting up across different fares. That makes planning particularly important if you’re looking for multiple seats.

Don’t move your Avios before checking availability

This is probably the most useful piece of advice I can give you on this topic. You absolutely must check reward seat availability before you transfer any Avios. There’s no point in moving a large Avios balance to another account if the reward seats you wanted have already gone. This is particularly relevant for Business Class, school holiday travel, popular long-haul routes such as Tokyo or Australia, and multiple passengers travelling together. 

Reward seat availability for British Airways and Iberia is much more limited than cash availability, so flexibility is often your friend here. If you can travel a day earlier, depart from a different local airport or consider an alternative routing, your chances of snapping up a reward seat may improve significantly. Experienced Avios collectors often plan around the release of reward availability well in advance. Try to book as early as possible – you can do so 355 days ahead.

What if you’re trying to get the whole family on the same flight?

This is where a little advance planning can save a lot of frustration – especially if you’re flying with kids. If you’re travelling with a few people, don’t assume that because there are cash seats available there will be enough Avios reward seats in the cabin you want to book. Start by deciding; which cabin do you want? Can you be flexible with your travel dates? Which airports could you use? And are you prepared to consider a connecting itinerary? A little give and take here can be the difference between snagging an Avios booking, or coming up empty handed. 

Once you’ve found suitable reward seat availability, you can then decide how best to use your Avios balances. If one person has the lion’s share of the points going into the booking, then booking the other travellers directly from that account may be the simplest solution. If several family members have substantial balances, a Household Account may make more sense. And if everyone wants to retain ownership of their own points for future trips, keeping the balances separate could be preferable.

Don’t overlook Companion Vouchers

If you’re planning to book an Avios trip with someone else, there’s another Avios benefit worth considering: the British Airways Companion Voucher, a perk of holding the American Express BA credit cards.  A Companion Voucher allows the traveller to take another person on the same reward flight and in the same cabin for no additional Avios, subject to terms and availability. Alternatively, if travelling alone, the voucher provides a 50% Avios discount. That makes a significant difference when you’re planning a premium-cabin trip for two.

However, perks like this also show why transferring Avios isn’t always the first thing you should think about when planning a shared trip. Before moving points between accounts, look at the benefits and vouchers already available to you. You may find that your existing Avios balance can go considerably further than you expected.