I am just about to drop to Silver after two years a GCH. I gained this status as I was gold with BMI at the time of the take over and joined BAEC a few days after the start of my year so as to get two complete years of benefits. What have I gained from being Gold for two years?

Use of GF when travelling economy: 7
Use of GF when travelling Club (so would have had access to GC): 1
Use of MAD T4 lounges when travelling economy: 5
Use of other lounges when travelling economy: 4

Free rebooking of redemption seats (and the ability to use the Gold line to do this): 5

Selecting seats: No record, but I do try and book exit seats in Y and mostly have been able to so do.

Use of fast track: No record of this. I use fast track if it is there and I remember. The frustrating things about fast track is you spend all your time in the queue watch the slow track just to make sure you get the benefit.

Use of priority boarding: Again, I kept no record. The advantage of priority boarding seems to be very variable and occasionally, although an advertised benefit, does not seem to operate.

Greeting by cabin crew: Once.

Upgrade: Once at gate, ET to CE, when the flight was full but would that have happened any way? I was with Mrs Greenpen, who was a lowly blue, so I guess this counts as two upgrades.

Useful status match: To Aegean *A Gold

Most of the lounge visits have been while flying economy within Europe as if you can select seats and get tanked up and fed in the lounge then flying business seems a waste of money/Avios. Ah well, I’ve another year of being able to use the GC and other Silver benefits before I either have to do a TP run or cough-up the Avios to fly Club on short haul.

In the two years I have enjoyed Gold, I flew 70 sectors, 11% in F, 26% in J and 63% in Y (half international and half domestic, although none of the latter in the UK).