Originally Posted by
janwillem
LHR has great lounge options in addition to the extensive OW route network. One could argue that it is an elite heavy city with a lot of competition for upgrades(?). And I would not exclude future upward fare pressure in a BA/AA dominated airport.
While LHR is definitely "elite-heavy," I have received various "involuntary upgrades" at the gate from J to F (when still flown on my common routes) or even from E and M to J. This has happened both when I was Gold on QF and more recently as JQP.
If work or other circumstances dictated that I fly a carrier with another alliance, I would switch, but personally I'd stick to OW.
(And, really...do they think that I would kick and scream if they asked me to voluntarily upgrade at the gate?
)