This thread seems to have jumped a lot since I wanted to stick my nose into it but, I would, like to say as a Gold Card Holder who lives abroad"
1] I'm still waiting for my upgrade - even after 65 flights with BA and it's franchise's this year alone - I have not had one, and quite frankly I don't really expect one.
2] I believe service has declined over the last 10 years. The catering has deterioated, but I guess that's just the way the business has gone (as it's the same with KLM, Lufthansa and don't even mention Iberia & Alitalia)
3] You can't blame the crew - most BA crews still have their sense of humour and are very professional.
4] As a full fare paying PAX, I'd like one day to see a Senior BA Manager sat on a flight and speak with all the PAX - instead of one of those anonymous survey's which are never given to Frequent Flying PAX (or appear to be never given to us). I'm reading Ms Cassani's book about Go at the mo, she states that she regularly went on Go's flights to gauge customer opinion - whether it's accurate or not I think it's a good idea.
5] My BA Gold Card is worthless as it appears to mean nothing these days.
I fly three diffrent airlines to get to work in Kazakhstan - Arkia
BA
and Astreaus
By far the better service provider is surprisingly Astreaus, although I still prefer my Club World seat.