Originally Posted by Geordie405

Absolutely! I want to be able to say proudly that I qualified by reason of getting 1500 TPs by way of flying, and not some free pass or TP reduction courtesy of BA I have no doubt that next year there will be people saying that one's Gold status is less worthy than another's Gold status by virtue of the TP reduction etc. My first sentence is me joking, but I am not so sure we won't see any of the latter!

In terms of routing etc. for me it's generally been my way of thinking that I don't mind doing a bit of a detour on the outbound journey but when heading home I usually prefer the more direct routing as I am keen to get off the plane, clear immigration and get home - and not have to do another couple of flights with the associated layovers and delays. If I'm flying alone then I have more tolerance for a detour on the inbound but when flying with family we've usually taken the direct flight back to Las Vegas.

However, I have a trip in August (all being well) that will see me fly LAS - LAX - JFK - LHR - NCL - LHR - JFK - PHX - LAS for 720 TPs for $2.4k which I thought was an absolute bargain. My wife will be flying with me and she's as keen as I am to do it as it should secure Gold for both of us. She's a habitual Silver but had made Gold once, and this will be her second time at that level. It will come in handy for our Christmas trip to the UK meaning that we can legitimately guest our daughter into the F lounge without having to ask for a favour.