My counter reset the other day:

My gold card expires at the end of this month, but the cut off period was the beginning of the mont, so I have some tier points already fro my return journey from LAX last week. Some changes have been made by marketing in the way the system is scanned for people who have requalified for Gold so that their memberships packs are done immediately, as in the past there was a good chance you may be without a valid Gold card for a number of weeks. They have changed printers for the LHR/LGW Upgrade vouchers and this has introduced a slight delay too.

On the companion fare question, its the same fare classes as a normal companion ticket, so L, B, Y, W or J. Already planning to use mine for a companion flight in Economy for my 2 siblings next year, them and 3 Upper Class reward flights to the Us - Sobbing at the demise of 240,000 points from my account

Thanks,
Richard