Yes income and the fact that Mrs CLAM flatly refuses to do TPR's and demands a minimum of 4 days wherever we get off a plane means hitting Gold is highly unlikely ( never say never and all). That said one even as a MPC member if I so desired I could still credit points to my BAEC account as CX ask during the booking process so it's not an issue.
Having had to argue the case with other OW carriers staff about rights/ privileges due to us we've got an AA account ( again matched) and as we're off to the far east this year decided to ask CX if they'd do the same. Once again I wont argue that you shouldn't have to but for the sake of 2 emails and lets say 15 mins of my life compared to a 10-30 minute argument with staff who don't know the rules & having to show them because they cba to check/ do their job when you're supposed to be relaxing on holiday it's a no brainer for ourselves. If it also has a benefit on the complete lottery that is any airlines upgrade algorithm then in the words of Tesco's - every little helps