Originally Posted by
themax
Lots of negative comments on this thread about how status doesn't get you much, or it's not as useful as it once was, but consider this: for those of you that are BA Silver or Gold and fly in W or J, the next time you fly BA or OW remove your FF # from the booking and see how things go for you (no premium check-in, no free bags, no fast track, no lounge, no free seat selection, no perks onboard, no fast track at immigration, etc). I think you'll find your journey will be a completely different experience then you're used to. At the end of the day the Executive Club is just a frequent flyer programme; it's a nice to have, not a reflection of your status in life.
Most of the time, those features don't really affect me.
Premium check-in is a bonus sometimes, although I generally check-in online and 99% of the time travel with hand baggage only, or have a case of around 15kg when full. Security queues are a mixed bag depending on where you are and when.
Not all airports have lounges and some that do aren't worth arriving early for anyway.
Priority boarding. Sometimes works, other times half the Y cabin have boarded whilst you're still behind 20 GCHs. Status is useful on AA for getting overhead space first.
Seat selection wise, as long as I don't end up in a middle, I'll survive. I did survive a LAX-LAS flight in the middle seat with Southwest - not a long flight, but zero status or benefits with them (due to a cancelled earlier flight and I was on standby for this flight).
No perks on-board. What's new?
Fast track at immigration. Only time I've seen that was coming off a QF F fight into SYD and that had zero to do with status. Got Global Entry for the US so that's non-status related as well.
Can't say I've ever had a bad seat without status. What is defined as the worst seat in CW (central, near the toilets) will be better than a lot of seats back in WT+ or WT in a 2-4-2 or 3-4-3 formation.
Used to fly Virgin and generally got somewhere around 45/46A when flying Y. Bought meal deals at Boots etc. so didn't starve. Found power points for charging.
Even Norwegian have given me window or aisle seats when I've been too cheap to pay the few £ for seat selection. Same with KLM and Lufthansa.