However highly you regard yourself, your favorite airline may have an exact number for how highly they regard and value you. In fact, I all but guarantee they do. Whatever airline you fly, chances are the people behind the counter or walking up and down the aisle don’t have time to read your love or hate letters to the airline, analyze all your prior business or calculate how nice you are. It’s for that exact reason that British Airways, and other airlines have Corporate Individual Value (CIV) scores for passengers, rating you from zero to one hundred. I’ll even tell you how to get your score…
Are you a general flyer, a low tier elite frequent flyer, a million miler? These factors create the very basic outline of your CIV score. Do you fly mostly economy? business? first? discounted or full fare? These factors add the meat into your score. Are you a pain in the ass? do you treat staff kindly? has the airline annoyed you? These factors finalize your value to the airline, which but of course, the cabin crew and check in desks have access to! If you ask nicely, they may even share…
So yes, if you feel like you’ve been treated worse, or a whole lot better than someone sitting near you, it may certainly have something to do with your secret magical number. For British Airways, non “Executive Club” members and general “Blue” club members have a score between 0 and 5, Bronze between 6 and 13, Silver 14 to 35 and Gold from 36-96. The extra four points? Gold Guest Listers, life timers and a special score of 105 for Premier, invite only secret club members. As you can see there is a lot of room for discretion even within a certain tier or level and that all boils down to spending and tenure of loyalty. I will easily make Gold this year, but will likely be a 36 because I do so buying the lowest possible fares and I’ve never invested much time in British Airways prior to this year. A long time Gold flyer, whose company buys refundable First class tickets, you can bet he’s going to have a far higher number. But back to most of us, how sad is it to be a zero?!
As you may have guessed, I do have thoughts. There are customer service standards which should be universal and an airline should always strive to leave a memorably fantastic customer experience, whatever the customers score may be. With that said, it’s nice for those who spend a fortune in both money and time with an airline to receive recognition. These scores are apparently the tie breakers and decision makers for who, if anyone, gets an upgrade, who gets their meal choice, who gets the first glass of champagne and certainly who gets the largest smile and warmest welcome… or the biggest frown. Another zero.
Ah yes, and I promised you the ability to find your score. Thanks to freedom of information you can write British Airways, completing the steps found here under “Request A Copy Of Your Personal Information” with a specific request for CIV number. Enjoy…
As Always, Get In Touch: GodSaveThePoints@gmail.com
