I have had a gold card (genrally 2500 tier points) for over ten years. This year, 40 tier points. Heres why, from a long haul family trip last week:
- Go to empty check in desk with seven (yes, seven) staff behind it. They stop their conversation long enough to tell me it is closed.
- Go to lounge: tea, stale cakes - nothing (and I mean nothing) else except compulsory television in arabic. Leave, sit in quiet, sunny terminal.
- Upgraded. Think, 'how nice, they have upgraded me because I have a Gold Card'. Read boarding card: 'Involuntary Upgrade due Overbooking'.
- Check in at Heathrow. Elderly person in front has 23.4 kg bag. Wait in line while he protests, then searches for his keys, drops them, finds them, struggles with the lock, spills his luggage over the floor, re-packs his bag, zips it up, searches for keys, locks bag - and transfers 0.4 kg to his (empty) carry-on. Bored staff find this highly amusing.
- Enjoy the T5 experience - more exercise than I have had in weeks, and I enjoy zoos.
- Get to Club lounge - Saturday afternoon, it is empty. Am travelling with wife and 14 year old son. Ask (politely, as a favour) if they will let him in the lounge. Get a lecture on how many people try to blag their way into empty lounges. All three retreat vowing (yet again) never to fly BA...
They have stopped trying, I have stopped buying.