Originally Posted by
inasmuchas
Perhaps I'm missing something, but why would a BA Gold expect to get priority when calling AA? I'm QF Platinum, and I whilst I fly BA more than QF, I don't expect to get priority if I call BA.
Because that's what's an alliance for: expand the reach of destinations for customers (or, as some analysts say, create cross-country mergers when those are generally forbidden by legacy protectionist laws). Heck, AA/BA/IB even advertise their immunized transatlantic joint business as such!
So if I'm flying to JNB I can't use AA, have to use BA to stay inside the alliance, but am treated like dirt if there's an issue with my BA flight.
Originally Posted by
inasmuchas
As for FastTrack, I've never had any problem using FastTrack at T5. From my experience it's open to BA elites and oneworld equivalents.
Not true; the boards at both the FastTrack line for the inconvenient "conformance" check invention and those for the security FastTrack line both exclude oneworld elites; I know very well because when a while back I connected from an AA J-cabin (upgrade) to a BA Y-cabin euro flight, a BA-uniformed person denied me the use of FastTrack. The board still excluded oneworld elites as of the end of May; only those departing in a F/J-cabin and BA elites are allowed to use them.