GroundedSLF
My remark about 'who cares' was somewhat tongue in cheek and not meant from the perspective of a premium customer, but from the perspective of the airline.
The reality is that most airlines don't really care about their Y pax, although they do care about the costs incurred by missing slots and the knock on effects of delays, so my point is that the airline is doing this for its own reason and the line about doing it for the benefit of ther pax is not the main dirver, IMHO.
However, seriously, my other point is that conformance is not an intelligent way to behave, especially in a downturm.
Now, I wouldn't cut things as fine as Munnyspinner, but a sensible airline would try to proactively get someone with a long premium history onto a flight, not just to chop them. This latter action rings true, because it aligns with my treatement when BA canx my flight 4 hours in advance and told me I was on my own (club ticket, silver card holder.)
BA is losing customers at the moment.
I'm in Paris today and happy to take BA to T5 (for a short hop, BA was cheaper than AF and I want to stay near LHR, otherwise I would have choses U2), but tomorrow I fly to the middle east on a J class ticket, with * Alliance, to a destination served by BA.
I don't need to do business with an airline who cannot persuade its service provider to run a fast track system properly, in a terminal where it is the only airline.
A small thing, but there is a lot of competition out there.