If I book economy PHL->LHR and then Club World LHR->destination I know I get club access at LHR - but do I also get it in PHL, since I have one leg in business? And how about on the return? Since I will have just come off a Club World flight, will I still have lounge access even though I'm connecting to an economy flight?

(haven't booked yet, just trying to understand ALL my options)

also, what's with the $1300 or so carrier charge by BA? I have almost 300k avios but they're useless as awards - I'm trying to go PHL-DXB and it will cost me $1500 on top of my Avios to use them for award travel. If I pay for premiium economy and use avios to upgrade that makes more sense - but now I'm spending $2400! I can do the same trip on American for <$100 with different carriers...

although when I compare costs to use Qatar, if I book thru American it's still <$100 in fees vs over $600 in fees on BA using avios -- SAME ITINERARY!! What's with that?????