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!
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?
BA called me yesterday to say I was rated 106!!!!!.....cause I am so fabulous. Thank you everyone
I wish flight attendants could review passengers for good or bad behavior, so that well-behaved passengers are given small perks, like exit row seating or complimentary premium economy upgrades. There are so many boorish passengers these days.
From my days at Australia's first bank (Westpac), I know they grade every single, individual customer. L (low)5-L1, M (medium)5-M1, H(high)5-H1. based on the obvious marketing metrics - if they were an influence in terms of corporate banking contracts, their total holdings, number of products held etc.
We used to joke when someone was an arsehole and they were L something, that we would gladly walk them across the road to the Commonwealth Bank (where...
From my days at Australia's first bank (Westpac), I know they grade every single, individual customer. L (low)5-L1, M (medium)5-M1, H(high)5-H1. based on the obvious marketing metrics - if they were an influence in terms of corporate banking contracts, their total holdings, number of products held etc.
We used to joke when someone was an arsehole and they were L something, that we would gladly walk them across the road to the Commonwealth Bank (where the more povo customers generally go).
And you have to suck an H1 arsehole.
System works both ways.
As far as I am aware, this score also affects the order of service on BA flights.
According to the manual, when several passengers request the same menu item,
priority is given to those with higher BA status. Among passengers within the same tier, priority is determined by this score.
Cabin crew can view passengers’ scores on their tablets or mobile devices. In practice, however, BA does not appear to follow this procedure consistently, except on long-haul flights.
My Husband , Who is Platinum Executive on American, just received a thank you note from the DFW crew on his seat while boarding…. So even American knows the status of their customers and where they are seated on the plane!
Funny, this is how they treat every passenger as shite
As a passenger, I rate BA too. I went from Gold to Blue over a short period. 4 flights in 4 years. BA knows I don’t value them very much either.
This isn’t unique to airlines. I worked at a major American bank when I was college. Every frontline employee was required to look at every customers “profitability” score. If it was high, we were supposed to treat them special by refunding fees or do extra nice things. If their profitability score was low we were told not to do those things.
Under UK law, you can request CIV (and other info) from BA. Plenty of information on this on Flyertalk. (I’ve done this in the past).
CIV is primarily used for upgrades (op ups). Not that different from AA where Loyalty Points earned YTD are the tie-breaker for an upgrade… And no one says “AA rates its customers”…
Here's also an interesting topic that relates to this: British Aiways business class, world's most expensive premium economy experience. If BA can rate customers, the same can be said of their mediocre and outdated product.
Given Club Suites were introduced years ago and all planes are being retrofitted (Ben has posted on BA’s progress), your comment is both mediocre and outdated.
Now if you wanted to criticise Emirates for the awful 2-3-2 business class on the majority of their planes I’d agree with you.
Come on, Ben. You can do better than this kind of clickbaits. Assigning an automatically generated commercial score to customers is very different from "rating customers".
@ Samo -- I'm sorry, that wasn't my intent. Maybe we have different definitions of "rating," but I'm using the definition of "a measurement, score, or classification," and I think that accurately describes this?
What's the difference between an "automatically generated commercial score" and a customer "rating?"
What would you call an individual's credit rating in the USA? Aren't Experian and Equifax and TransUnion rating customers by assigning creditor risk values via automatically generated commercial scores?
This isn't even a case of tomato - tomahto. The score is the same thing as the rating.
Air France does something *like* this as well for *certain* customers, though it's not necessarily a numeric rating.
This is correct as I've discussed it with a FA, although I don't think it's aggregated into a "score" like this on AF. But FA have access to information such as your past travel pattern, whether you're travelling on a corporate contract etc. On their tablet they have the list of passengers and each has a list of codes corresponding to such information.
Under UK data protection laws, British Airways are required to disclose any information they gather on customers and what they use it for. This should be an easy request.
A certain community member BA Fanbooi might be disappointed to learn that he’s a 40 and not a 60.
If the FA knows my customer score I sure would like to know their employee score.
Huh, so, we all do have our own draconian 'social credit score,' after all. Wonderful. /s
I think BA would have to tell your CIV under GDPR, if you asked. My understanding is that companies have to release what information they hold on you as a subject access request
Even if BA is required to release which information they have on you, how they process them to reach the CIV is totally up to them.
I think it is very common for all service providers to collect all kinds of costumer data. I know that Lufthansa used metrics of how often costumers would rebook on short notice to determine where to store their checked luggage in case they have to unload it. I don't know if they still do this, though.
A very useful post! My theory is also that this data, at least in BA's implementation, can better inform a purser and cabin crew on their abilities to 'push back' on unreasonable requests - of course the domain of 'reasonable' being directly proportional to the score and 'other factors' (past behavior, etc.). Organizations need to know who brings the most value and is the 'juice worth the squeeze' when trying to accommodate the uncommon. This...
A very useful post! My theory is also that this data, at least in BA's implementation, can better inform a purser and cabin crew on their abilities to 'push back' on unreasonable requests - of course the domain of 'reasonable' being directly proportional to the score and 'other factors' (past behavior, etc.). Organizations need to know who brings the most value and is the 'juice worth the squeeze' when trying to accommodate the uncommon. This is also mentioned in other posters' comments on hotels and restaurants.
I think your key point here is where can the CIV be used that explicitly can NOT be baked into an algorithm. I'd imagine the answer is mostly when ops aren't flowing smoothly, staff have to make decisions that aren't predetermined by a machine. i.e. Preferred mains dishes are running low, two seats are broken with only one suitable replacement in that class, two people complain simultaneously, then prioritize making the high CIV happy.
...I think your key point here is where can the CIV be used that explicitly can NOT be baked into an algorithm. I'd imagine the answer is mostly when ops aren't flowing smoothly, staff have to make decisions that aren't predetermined by a machine. i.e. Preferred mains dishes are running low, two seats are broken with only one suitable replacement in that class, two people complain simultaneously, then prioritize making the high CIV happy.
I'd also imagine it's meant to instill the awe effect: this is a real VIP, do everything to avoid fucking up with this person, and use any discretionary surprise and delight.
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.
Nowadays can't by a Kelly Bag from Hermès if you're not a well rated returning customer.
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 .
Love your post! Made me smile