An interesting angle. Perhaps my perspective s skewed by always starting any journey with a BA to LGW ... where the 40 TP e/w do help quite a bit. And Row 1 has become our standard on that leg, and our very occasional forays to Europe.

But with the majority of our trips being l/h in CW, I still see benefits from Gold status. Apart from the T5 First Wing, there’s the dedicated desks at LGW (yeah, bucket and spade!) and at T3. And seat selection when booking is good too. And then the enhanced Avios earning, allowing me to squander Avios inefficiently without actually micromanaging!!

I doubt one size fits all!