It is 2400 points to initially get to gold on BA ... but it could be over two years.

First you need to get 700 points to get to silver ... at which time your points get reset to 0, and your year starts over.

You then have a year to accumulate 1700 points to get to gold.

After that, gold renewal is 1200 points. (Or silver renewal is 500 points.)

Download the executive club handbook at http://www.ba.com/execclub/handbook.

AA flagship lounge access is a nice benefit if you're based in one of the cities that has one ... or travel to/through one of those cities frequently.

Just keep in mind that as a BA Gold, if you are looking to credit AA flights to the BA program ... you will get double miles on AA flights (as long as they are not "L" or "Q" fare class ... which net you NOTHING) ... but you don't get upgrade stickers.