Would this be the cheapest way back to FB Gold I wonder. There have been a good few deals in the business cabin in the last few months (thinking of the fares to China that came out about this time last year) and, thinking about it, if I had done the China deal twice for about €999-1,200 each I would probably have just made it back to Gold.

Maybe this is a shortcut to Platinum. But we tend to agree that once you've got Gold then Platinum is not really worth shooting for, unless your work schedule takes you there.