IMPORTANT CAVEAT: If you set up a Household Account then you will NOT be able to redeem miles for someone outside the HA, unlike standard account holders.
Household accounts (HHAs), or family accounts as they are sometimes referred to are a way of pooling miles for redemptions. They are also a way of allowing under 18’s to join and earn miles.
Each member must have the same address. You previously (and in some regions may still have to) needed to fill in a form, and fax it to BA. They will then lose the form, not do anything, and you’ll probably need to call (and fax) a few times before they manage to set it up
However, now the process should be greatly simplified and can all be done online from your account.
Once it is set-up, you will have two mileage balances when you log into the website, a personal one, and a household one. The household one is the mileage balance of all the members, combined.
Mileage is the only thing that is shared; status is NOT shared i.e. if one member is Silver and the other is Blue, the Blue member travelling alone, will not have lounge access, Club check-in etc.
As you have to be 18 or over to join the EC, the HHA is a good way to let kids join. There is no age restriction when joining a family account.
The maximum number of members in a HHA is eight (one primary member, and seven others).
You can only make one change to a HHA (which means adding and removing members, changes to your address) every six months.
Spending Miles from a household account
There’s a specific formula that calculates how miles are get removed from each members account.
Where a is the first member, b is the second member, c is the third and so on; and x is the number of miles being redeemed:
Miles deducted from a = (a/(a+b+c+...)) * x
Miles deducted from b = (b/(a+b+c+...)) * x
What this means in English is:
If I have 20,000 and my partner has 40,000 (for a total of 60K), they would deduct twice as many miles from his account as mine. e.g. for a 10,000 mile award, they'd take 6667 from his and 3333 from mine.
Members of the HHA who are under 18 cannot redeem miles for tickets.