Originally Posted by Morgo

Well, all I can say is "Thank You BA"! For years I had typically needed to rely on use of my BA miles/avios for biz/first travel on a leisure basis. Thus I spent an inordinate amount of time maximising my BA mileage collection and expending energy on credit card applications etc. For the last couple of years I've been lucky enough that for leisure travel I could choose to pay cash for J/F tickets but have always found that due to a large Avios balance and plentiful AMEX BOGOFs I've not needed to spend it (although tempting at times due to the painful reward availability). It's meant that almost all of my long haul travel has been on BA.

I'm now free of these shackles! Given the devaluation I don't feel that I need to worry so much about accruing Avios. I can now just get on and spend cash on the airline that will give me the best premium experience (I've heard great things about those ME and Asian airlines) and focus less on the reward scheme. I've only seen the BA club and 1st cabin experience deteriorate over the last 15 years and I'm looking forward to trying these other airlines. I guess I'll still collect miles into the most optimal schemes (be foolish not to) but I'm certainly not going to be stubbornly loyal to any particular carrier anymore!