A few weeks back I went through T5 without using either the lounge or fast track security.

I arrived about one hour ahead of departure, enjoyed a smoked salmon sandwich and can of ginger beer from Pret and then went to board.

You know what? It was fine!

The reason was that I burned Avios for LHR-NCL-LHR (rather than taking the train) as I have not flown for a while and was missing it. As a Bronze I no longer get lounge access, despite taking enough flights last year that I would normally have re-qualified - alas, ID00s on oneworld carriers do not earn TPs.

On the way back from Newcastle there was a delay so I sat down and read a book in that quiet space outside the BA lounge, and that was fine too. All in all, I reckon that this premium ground experience malarky is overrated, at least in the UK.