Let me start by saying that I don't want to be one to look a gift horse in the mouth but I was curious about some recent upgrade experiences on BA. BA have been good to me over the holidays: I got an upgrade from wt+ to F on the way back to London for Christmas and am now sitting in the lounge heading back to new York having scored an upgrade from WT+ to CW.

I noticed on today's boarding card that where the ticket would normally say something about an involuntary upgrade due to overselling it now says "upgrade dut BA/gold". This seems to suggest that BA has adopted the us custom of upgrading people purely based on status and not an operational need. Has anyone else had experience of this? Any BA staffers who can shed a light on this?

Cue multiple comments about devaluing the premium product...