I'm afraid some (but not all) of my experiences have been exactly the opposite. When I've called recently my calls have been transferred to the blue line and they've not even known I was silver as they've never asked for my EC number, though in fairness it's still the free 0800 number

I have to say for the first time in 4 years I'm seriously wondering whether maintaining silver is worth it though I can't deny the warm, fuzzy feeling I get when I see the card.

In order to maintain status I need to take all my trips in CE or CW. Each of these gives me lounge access, priority check-in and (in theory) priority boarding. My original reason for going for silver was being able to assign seats, particularly 64K on a long haul. But now that BA have made that available to everybody for a fee of £80 each way, then that amount is considerably less than I invest in being silver (which costs me into the thousands).

Priority check-in doesn't matter to me, nor does priority boarding as I get both of these through the class I'm travelling anyway. Ditto lounge access and extra baggage allowance.

I think for those who do most of their travel in ET then yes the benefits are very much worth it. If you do most of your travel in CW/CE then not so sure.