Originally Posted by
hfly
To the BA employees monitoring this board, please note that the person most adamantly taking your corner seems to be doing so out of bloodymindedness and seemingly for laughs. Your actual GCH's do seem to be up in arms about this.
This does not just affect Golds, it also affects Silvers. I'm a Silver and had a chance to go for Gold this year if I'd done a TP run into Europe. I looked at the benefits of Gold, including the Open Doors policy, and decided it wasn't worth the time or cost for me. While accepting that everyone's flying patterns are different, I think the value of the service is being exaggerated beyond its true worth to most people (with BAEC, not FT).
And no-one has yet pointed out that a similar reduction in service has already happened to Silver card holders - the inability to choose exit row seats for free on LH flights in WT or WT+. I used to be able to do that, and did it as often as many on here said they used the Open Doors policy.
I now have to pay if I want the same service I had before, just like GCH will often have the option to pay for a lounge in the cases where they used the Open Doors policy before (not in every case, granted). I don't remember the same amount of whining from Silvers then, though I do remember rants that the UD would be filled by Tesco Clubcard holders
If I was Gold, as I've said already, I'd most likely be right royally pi$$ed if the service was removed, even if I didn't use it often, as seems to be the case for the vast majority here. Its human nature - somethings been taken away, you're closer to Silver in terms of benefits, you don't feel as valued as you did before, you're not deemed as important by BA.
So, barring a few exceptions where people used the service extensively (and perhaps its removal is aimed squarely at those people), it seems the outrage is not because this particular service was removed, but because
A service was removed without any apparent thought, reducing the overall benefits, and also because of the manner and tone of the communication, as
henkybaby has so eloquently commented upon.
I think there is a danger that the vocal minoriity might cause group thinking on this thread, making the issue look like something much more impactful than it actually is for most people within BAEC.