A short story: flying a great deal on BA WTP, I earn enough Tier Points to maintain Gold, but obviously not a really huge amount of Avios. Imagine my pleasure as I managed to bag a late (only a few days pre-departure) LHR-BKK upgrade to Club World using Avios.
While enjoying the welcome cocktail, 2 passengers - father and daughter - were brought up to the Club World cabin by a crew member. I got into conversation with the father who was seated next to me, who explained that he had been upgraded from World Traveller. I asked if he was BA staff. He said no, but someone who works for him has contacts at BA, and a well-placed phone call resulted in the upgrade after boarding.
Am I just being nasty and petty in feeling rather aggrieved because a) availability for Avios upgrades is notoriously limited even for EC Gold, and b) that I had needed to use my hard-earned Avios for a one-class upgrade, while a phone call to a friend of a friend at BA apparently carries sufficient weight for a freebie 2-class upgrade?