I'm 23 and pay for everything myself (or parents in the past), so have always bought the cheapest ticket possible, which means something odd like L or Q, not even full Y. My parents didn't really understand frequent flying despite average 4 longhauls per year since I was born, which means we had miles in several programs that couldn't really be used for much.

I have a few miles in BAEC though I haven't been flying much in the past few years. But starting from the next membership year and beyond, I may be taking up to 10 longhauls per year, which means I should probably stick to one alliance, and I have now maxed out my household account members though only one other person flies a lot.

Since I fly mainly in the peak seasons it's becoming very hard to get a good price for Y tickets. So on my most recent booking with BA, when I saw that WT+ was only 15% more than the cheapest WT I thought I would just go for it.

Do you think WT+ prices are going to be only a bit more than WT in the future, and how should I decide whether I should spend a bit more to qualify for Silver or just stick to the cheapest fares? In other words, are the extra miles and benefits worth it for the extra money paid, bearing in mind that it's changing Avios, and the fact that I might be earning more in a few years?

I'm 5'11" but I seem to find 13 hours of HKG-LHR all right even on CX with its fake reclining seats. Am I doing permanent damage to my spine?