The joker is a great benefit, but quite an expense to get there. So for me if it was me personally paying to achieve this so I could use my Avios more easily then it would be a no. When my work travel dried up I went from silver to blue, but still used Avios and 2-4-1s to fly J or F numerous times. If I couldn't get the exact flights I wanted then I would fly somewhere I could and pay for a connection.