Planning ahead for your BA Avios
Lifetime transfer options and steps to take now for British Airways Avios
The British Airways Club (Executive Club)
British Airways bereavement / account closure (no dedicated Avios estates team)
British Airways's terms state that Avios are forfeited when the account holder dies. Lifetime planning is the only path to extracting value from the account before that happens.
British Airways offers a free Household Account that lets up to seven individuals who live at the same address (the member plus up to six others) pool their Avios into one cumulative household balance that any household member can redeem. Children can be included. When Avios are spent from a Household Account, a proportional amount is deducted from each member's balance based on the size of that member's share of the pooled total. Each member still earns tier points and moves through the Club's tiers individually. Separately, a Family and Friends list lets Club members who are part of a household account redeem for up to five nominated individuals, who may be existing Club members (their membership number is added to the nomination) or people who are not Club members; the member is responsible for the accuracy of the details and for obtaining each nominee's consent. The Family and Friends list is a redemption nominee list, not a pooling mechanism, and it does not survive the member's death. Outside of Household Accounts, members can transfer Avios to other people and can transfer Avios between their British Airways Club account and their Iberia Club, AerClub, Loganair Loyalty, Vueling Club, Qatar Airways Privilege Club, or Finnair Plus accounts at an equal value. Reward Flight Saver remains available: members who have collected Avios in the past 12 months can pay Avios plus a flat fee on short-haul Reward Flights. Selling, bartering, or purchasing Avios outside the program, including through internet sales or auctions, is prohibited.
How to protect your BA Avios
6 steps for managing your BA Avios during your lifetime:
- •Book Reward Flights for family members — the passenger does not have to be you
- •Use Avios for cabin upgrades on family travel
- •Redeem for hotels, car hire, or partner rewards through the Club
Should you save your passwords for your family?
Some people store account passwords so a family member can sign in later. The practice has three practical limits:
- Two-factor authentication often blocks it. Most accounts require a second factor — a code sent to a phone, an authenticator app, a passkey, or a physical key. A saved password alone frequently does not grant access, and the recovery codes that would are easy to lose or let go stale.
- It usually conflicts with the platform's terms. Most operators prohibit account sharing and signing in as another person, including after a death. Stored credentials are not the operator's recognized access path, and using them can violate the terms of service.
- Operators provide other paths. Where an operator offers a designation tool — Apple's Legacy Contact, Google's Inactive Account Manager, a beneficiary designation — that mechanism grants access the operator recognizes. A password manager's own emergency-access or legacy feature passes credentials through a controlled process. Digital assets named in a will or trust give a fiduciary authority under each state's Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA).
Frequently asked questions
No. The Family and Friends list lets Club members who are part of a household account nominate up to five individuals they can redeem Avios for; nominees can be Club members or people who are not members, and the member is responsible for the accuracy of the details and for obtaining each nominee's consent. It is a redemption nominee list, not a beneficiary designation, and it does not survive the member's death or give a nominee any claim to the balance. Membership terminates on death and the unused Avios are cancelled regardless of who is on the list.
Because membership terminates on death and the unused Avios, tier points, and lifetime tier points are cancelled, plan to use the balance while you are alive: redeem Reward Flights or upgrades, set up a free Household Account so family members at your address share one pooled balance, or transfer Avios to another person or to a partner loyalty program so they sit in an account that is not yours. Keep the account active so the balance does not lapse after 36 months of inactivity. Do not list your Avios as an asset in your will or trust — title never passes to you, so there is nothing for your estate to inherit. Document your membership number for your executor so they can report the death and make a written request, and do not leave your password for them to use.
Yes. Avios can be transferred to other people, and you can transfer Avios between your British Airways Club account and your Iberia Club, AerClub, Loganair Loyalty, Vueling Club, Qatar Airways Privilege Club, or Finnair Plus account at an equal value. Members at the same address can also pool Avios through a free Household Account of up to seven people, and household-account members can nominate up to five individuals on a Family and Friends list to redeem for. Selling, bartering, or buying Avios outside the program is prohibited. Because these lifetime mechanisms exist and the death clause cancels the balance, moving Avios while you are alive is the only reliable way for your family to get the benefit of them.
Recording that a BA Avios account exists, alongside other accounts, gives a fiduciary the information needed to reach the operator through its official process.
BA Avios does not offer beneficiary designations, so there is no program-level mechanism for directing Avios to a specific person at death.
Sources
Data sourced from British Airways primary sources (8 pages reviewed). How we research.
The British Airways Club (Executive Club)
British Airways bereavement / account closure (no dedicated Avios estates team)
