Originally Posted by
brunos
I would tend to disagree somewhat. I have been switching periodically between FB Gold & Plat and see no difference in the way I am treated. I agree that Plat for life is a significant perk, but I am not motivated to "suffer" ten years of poor lounges and inflight product to get the privilege to continue my suffering after retirement.
However, the recognition and F lounge of BA Gold are very important to me. I love to take a dirt-cheap Y flight from LHR to CDG or EDI and be treated to a variety of cold/hot real food, wine/champagne tasting and JW Blue. Actually I budget time for the GF in LHR. Taking an early morning flight exHKG for a full day work and starting with a fresh orange juice and full breakfast served in silver by an elegant butler in CX F lounge is great. Having access to F rather than J lounge makes a significant difference to me and even more if irrops or delayed flights. I easily qualify for BA G, so I do not put extra efforts, but I definitely would if needed. And when I see what some posters are willing to pay for a single access to the Première lounge,... (OK, OK there is more to the Première service than the lounge). IMO BA S is a critical border, but BA G is another one
Oh don't take me wrong, I like some of the F lounges (essentially LHR T5/T3, SYD and MEL QF F, and I'm sure HKG F but haven't been there for a while and thus not tried what I believe is a new one) and I can see why one would go out of one's way for this, but then similarly, if you are at 5 or 6 years of FB platinum, I can also see why you would go out of your way to maintain it till Plat for Life kicks in - this is certainly what I did. Similarly, F lounges in many location are very underwhelming - in most US gateways they are just a smaller version of the J lounge, and even at LGW it is dubious whether you gain much as compared to the Club lounge which is nicer, larger, and with more beautiful views. I think either way it appeals to people keen on some specific aspects of the service. I find neither AF, nor KL, nor BA very good at making me feel 'special' in any way, only LH HON (not even BA GGL) seems to tick that particular box (especially when
San Gottardo mentions his experiences on LX!) and I have had fewer upgrades and other perks with both FB and BA since I have reached Plat and Gold respectively than before. On BA, service if you are registered outside of the UK is also mediocre in many ways with no priority (or free) reservation or frequent flyer phone lines, minimal opening times of the call centre and few fonctionalities available on line.