How do you transfer Avios to someone else?

There are multiple approaches, with some cheaper than others.

Maybe you want to gift points to a loved one, or just pass on some orphaned points that you have no use for. As always with points, there are different approaches and, depending on your situation, financial benefits to choosing the right one.

The Avios Transfer function

On the Avios website, there’s a Transfer function. You’ll find this in the Spend Avios menu, then “Friends and Family”. This takes you to the Move and Combine Avios page. The last item listed is “Transfer to friends and family”.

You can transfer up to 200,000 points per year, but in batches of no more than 60,000.

If you have Gold status, then you can transfer points for free. This will obviously be the most cost-effective approach to sending points to anyone.

If you are not Gold, then it will cost you £50 for the transfer. That allows to transfer from 1,000 to 60,000 Avios in one go. The price does not change based on the number of points you want to move.

If you wanted to, for example, transfer 120,000 Avios to someone, then you would have to do this over two transactions, costing you £100 in total.

The £50 fee means that transferring 1,000 Avios will cost you 5p per point. At this price, it is cheaper for the other party to buy points outright or boost their own points. You could buy 2,000 Avios for £49, which is around 2.5p per point. Transferring 60,000 points costs 0.08p per point.

• If you want to transfer fewer than 2,000 Avios to someone then it would be most cost-effective to just give that person £50, so that they can buy the points from Avios, unless you have BA Gold or higher. It would be even more cost-effective if the recipient used that £50 to boost their points, rather than buying them.
  
• Any transfer of fewer than 6,000 points, if the recipient has Avios transactions to boost, then it would be more efficient if you gave the individual £50 and they boosted their points instead. At 5,500 points, the price per point for the transfer is 0.91p. Boosting your points comes in at 0.91p (At a quadruple boost). However, you cannot transfer 5,500 points as transfers have to be in multiples of 1,000.
  
• Transfers of 6,000 or over are the sweet spot. This is the best use of the Avios transfer feature.

How do you initiate a transfer?

The Avios site makes it easy to transfer points.

1. Login on Avios.com and navigate to the Transfer Points page.
   
2. Select the number of points you want to transfer. These have to be in multiples of 1,000, and you can transfer no more than 60,000 in each transaction, or 200,000 in total per year.
   
3. Add in the details of the person you want to transfer the points to. You’ll need their BA Club membership number (the Avios site still says Executive Club; the name was changed back in 2025) along with their first and last name, email, and you can add an optional message.
   
   When you submit this step Avios.com will check the name, and number that you entered. It is still advisable that you check everything carefully.
   
4. Enter your payment details into this second-to-last step. You can use an Avios earning credit card for the fees, however you will earn at the standard rate on the Amex cards, not the enhanced rate for BA transactions as this is not technically a payment to British Airways, but rather to Avios.
   
5. Confirm the transfer on the final page.
   
   

Should you be transferring at all?

If the person you want to transfer points to a family member who lives with you, it’s probably going to be better if you add them to your household account, assuming that you trust them.

This does not give them your points, but rather allows them to access your Avios when they need them. Any points they earn will be added to the shared pool, and any points that you earn are added to it too. When any household member redeems points for a flight, hotel, or other item, then the points needed will be taken from the pool.

It’s worth noting that any household member can use your points at any time. In theory they could wipe use up all of your points, so it’s worth thinking about whether they will act fairly. Given that they are a family member, you would hope so.

BA states that a household account is for people who live with you. IMHO, this can include people who may see your residence as being their permanent home, for example, children who are studying away from the main home. I am unsure how strictly BA polices the addresses of each individual.

You can have upto seven people in a “household”, meaning yourself and six others. The people you add to your household can be removed, but only if they have been part of the household for six months or longer. That means that you can’t just add people for a day, temporarily.

What about the “family and friends” list

A household account can have a “family and friends” list, which can be upto five people. This is fundamentally different to household members.

With the latter, the points are pooled between individuals, whereas the “family and friends” list allows you to book reward flights for people who are in the “family and friends” list. This does not allow you to use companion vouchers for anyone on this list, as they have strict terms that require the voucher owner to be one of the people travelling. Anyone on the friends and family list will not have access to your points.

• If you want to transfer points to a family member who lives with you so that they can book a flight, it would be most cost effective to add them to your household assuming you are comfortable with them being able to access all of your points.
  
• If you want to gift some of your points to a friend so that they can book a flight, then a transfer would be better, assuming that you want to transfer 6,000 or more points.
  
• If you want to give points to a friend, and the amount you want to gift is the total number of Avios needed for a flight, it could be better to use the Family and Friends list and you make the booking yourself.

The best approach becomes more complex when you take into account the liability of fees for the flight. You could use the Family and Friends list, book a flight for a friend using your points, and pay the cash element of the booking yourself.

You may want your friend to cover those flight specific costs, and you assume they will transfer the money to you (they are a friend after all). You would have to be confident that they will do this.

You are also assuming liability for making sure that you book the right flight. You could accidentally book the wrong day, or time, and that mistake now rests on you. It’s understandable why some people would just want to transfer the points, pay the £50, and be done with it.