Pucci Galore is quite right, of course.

An example of the nonsense: Checking prices for my imminent trip to Detroit, I see that BA would take me in C (OK, flexible D) from Vienna to Detroit and back for around £1,200 - around double the LHR-VIE-LHR fare and around ONE THIRD of BA's LHR-DTW-LHR fare.

For this, a European member would just about earn Silver outbound and Gold on the way back.

This is not only insulting for those registered elsewhere, but you have to question the mentality of those who justify it in current circumstances.

That D fare, by the way, is not a consol, it was on BA's website, so it must be true.

[I will be in Switzerland beforehand, and that deal via Vienna was tempting. However, I have made other arrangements.]