How many Avios points are needed to book a flight for an infant or baby?

Today I want to look at how many Avios points you need to book a seat for an infant or baby on a flight.

First, let’s clarify what British Airways counts as a baby or infant.  To get the infant fare, your child must:

be under 2 years old on the date of the OUTBOUND flight and

not be occupying a seat

If your child turns 2 years old during the trip, British Airways will give your child a free seat for the return flight.  You don’t pay any extra cash or Avios.

What happens if I want my baby to have its own seat?

For older babies, it often isn’t comfortable to have them on your lap for the entire flight.  British Airways is happy to book a seat for your baby but you will need to pay the full Avios and full taxes and charges for a normal child ticket.

What does it cost to book an infant ticket with Avios?

For long-haul flights, an infant ticket costs:

10% of the Avios of an adult ticket, and

10% of the taxes and charges

For a short-haul flight using Reward Flight Saver, an infant costs:

10% of the Avios of an adult ticket, and

£10 return for taxes and charges (adults pay £35 return)

Can an infant earn Avios on cash tickets?

If you are flying with British Airways on a cash ticket, not using Avios, your child can earn Avios points if – and only if – you enrol it into a British Airways Household Account.  This article explains how to earn Avios when your child flies.

(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 2.4 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 (January 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.

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.

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.

There are also good bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These are available 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.