Do you know your secret British Airways CIV score?

A few years ago, British Airways brought in a concept called ‘Corporate Individual Value’.  It is an attempt to distil your importance to BA into a single number.

It is a pretty rough and ready system as you will see below but it can have an impact on how you are treated on-board – whether you get your first choice of meal for example.  It will also impact your upgrade and waitlist priority.

British Airways staff are forbidden from telling you your CIV number.  There is an easy way to find out though.  On your next flight, have a wander up to the galley.  You will often see a piece of paper sitting around or pinned up with the names of all the passengers on it.  Their CIV score is printed alongside.

This is the current scoring system (out of 105):

0-5 points – banding for Blue BAEC members

6-13 points – banding for Bronze BAEC members

14-35 points – banding for Silver BAEC members

36-96 points – a surprisingly wide banding for Gold BAEC members

97 points – Gold Guest List members (basic level)

98 points – Key Decision Makers

99 points – a Key Decision Maker who is also Gold Guest List

100 points – Lifetime Gold Guest List and higher tier Gold Guest List members

105 points – Premier (a special BAEC membership level usually reserved for people who control major travel budgets for corporates – see the Black BAEC card pictured above!)

What I don’t know is the formula used for allocating CIV scores within the Blue, Bronze, Silver and Gold brands.  You can be fairly certain it is a function of travel volume and travel value.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

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 generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open 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.