Many airline passengers are curious how much information frontline employees actually have on them, and how much they know about the tickets they book, how much they fly with the airline, etc. Along those lines, British Airways is unique in terms of the extent to which it ranks its customers, while even giving flight attendants access to this information.
It’s something a reader asked me about, so I figure it makes for an interesting post, as I realize I’ve never covered this before. That’s not to say that I have all the answers, though!
In this post:
British Airways’ “Corporate Individual Value” score concept
While the British Airways Club program has several membership tiers — Blue, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Gold Guest List, Premier, etc. — the way that customers are ranked goes way beyond that. Specifically, each member of the British Airways Club program has a “Corporate Individual Value” — abbreviated CIV — which crew members can look up.
This absolutely exists, though British Airways crews are also prohibited from telling customers their scores. So don’t be surprised if you ask about this and they deny it’s a thing, or just change the topic.
So, how exactly does the scoring work? Given that none of this is even publicly acknowledged, we have to go off of a lot of secondhand information, and on top of that, there’s also the chance that the program has changed somewhat over time.
The last report on this from Head for Points suggests the scoring is on a 0-105 point scale, roughly as follows:
- British Airways Club Blue members have a score of 0-5
- British Airways Club Bronze members have a score of 6-13
- British Airways Club Silver members have a score of 14-35
- British Airways Club Gold members have a score of 36-96
- British Airways Club Gold Guest List members and key decision makers have a score of 97-100
- British Airways Premier members have a score of 105
How does the relative ranking within each of these tiers works? Like, why do you need a range of 60 points for British Airways Club Gold members? Your guess is as good as mine! Presumably this factors in various metrics that are important to the company.
My take on British Airways’ customer rating system
On the surface, it’s really common for airlines to rate passengers in a variety of ways. I mean, every time you’re on an upgrade list, there’s an order in which customers are prioritized — elite tier, whether they have a certain credit card, how much they’ve spent year to date and over their lifetime, etc.
So I imagine the concept with British Airways is similar, and this system with a lot of points is intended to prioritize customers in the event of operational upgrades, irregular operations, etc. That’s all fair enough, because you expect there’s some tiebreaker within each elite tier.
What I find puzzling, though, is the extent to which this data is directly made available to frontline employees. Like, do British Airways flight attendants say “welcome aboard” to Gold members with a score of 40, and say “you are most welcome onboard” if they have a score of 60? It just seems like giving frontline employees more information than is useful or necessary.
If this is about operational upgrades or prioritizing who gets their first choice of meal, you’d think this data would just be processed on the back-end, and then some sort of a prioritized list would show, no?
Anyway, there are obviously just as many questions as answers here, and I’m curious what the real story is as to how the numbers are assigned, and what frontline employees are actually supposed to do with them.
Bottom line
British Airways secretly rates members of its loyalty program, giving them a “Corporate Individual Value.” Your status tier decides which “band” you fall in, while some unknown metrics determine where you fall within that range. It’s weird how the ranges seemingly get much bigger the higher the elite tier, until you get above Gold, when they’re very small again.
While the concept of ranking customers on various lists is nothing new, having a dedicated score that flight attendants can see is something you won’t find at many airlines.
What do you make of British Airways’ CIV score concept?
This is far more common than you know in a number of industries. In fact upscale restaurant groups have been quietly doing this for a number of years. Also, hotels. It’s not always positive as well. There are top luxury hotel brands that document a lot about you, your stays, and both good and bad aspects of you as a guest that can determine certain factors as to your room assignment. Often loud and have...
This is far more common than you know in a number of industries. In fact upscale restaurant groups have been quietly doing this for a number of years. Also, hotels. It’s not always positive as well. There are top luxury hotel brands that document a lot about you, your stays, and both good and bad aspects of you as a guest that can determine certain factors as to your room assignment. Often loud and have a lot of traffic in your room? Expect less upgrades at any of their properties and being assigned a room in the hinterlands on less desirable floors as just one example. I would not be surprised if the purser on some airlines have more than just scores - but actual data that goes even deeper.
Nowadays every corporation does that. They profile every customer in every which way. There are algos that are focused on finding the gullible consumers where you do the bare minimum to retain loyalty and find ways to make you pay more.
There are algorithms which are focused on finding out how easily you can be enticed. All those retention offers, upgrade offers, they are usually generated by AI algos nowadays. And these algos keep a...
Nowadays every corporation does that. They profile every customer in every which way. There are algos that are focused on finding the gullible consumers where you do the bare minimum to retain loyalty and find ways to make you pay more.
There are algorithms which are focused on finding out how easily you can be enticed. All those retention offers, upgrade offers, they are usually generated by AI algos nowadays. And these algos keep a track of each consumer and how gullible they are and how easily they can be enticed.
So all the retention offers, bonus offers are going to be at the bare minimum level.
That is why its always mind boggling awhen you hear people bragging of accepting the bare minimum offers.
Back in the day the cvi was printed on the top right corner of the boarding pass
Do I know BA gives me a score ? Yes , I know that I have a score of 100 because I am a good fellow and use the Oxford comma .