I've been Gold for 4 years running on BA. I am a musician and my contract, which I always thought was prudent, allows me to book WT+ for long-haul flights with the idea that I can use Avios to get myself into CW. Been doing so quite happily, booking strategically well in advance.

For the next season, however, I've had two long-hauls that didn't work. The WT+ fare for Johannesburg in February was so exorbitant that I did some shopping around and found out that I could simply buy an outright Business Class seat on KLM for just slightly more than WT+ on BA. I did so and paid the difference.

I've got a concert in Panama in May 2019 and just attempted a ticket purchase. BA doesn't fly to Panama, so the routing was through Madrid on IB, which has no premium economy. Can't use my Avios or my gold upgrade voucher. Once again, RT in Business on KLM was just slightly more than the economy price they were quoting for BA/IB.

With these two J bookings, I'll suddenly have status with KLM. I'm a bit teased by the notion of moving over for good, and wonder if anybody else has reconsidered their dedication to BA. The biggest downside of the switch would be having to connect in AMS for absolutely everything. The other negative that comes to mind is the First Wing and flounge privileges, which I believe are the most valued aspects of my loyalty to BA for these years.

Grass is greener perhaps. Conflicted here. Would appreciate your thoughts.