I reached that point in 2018 after flying Emirates in J on an A380. It was the equivalent of a POUG and whilst I still prefer (generally) a good BA crew from a service point of view, the “BA difference” to justify going to Heathrow when I live a 10 minute train ride from BHX was too eroded. The final straw from me was their new boarding policy which seemed to be to herd you onto the jetbridge before the cabin was ready which just led to a huge siege when the crew were ready to start boarding.

Ironically when I tried Lufthansa J from BHX to fly to Berlin (via FRA) I ended up on a BA flight for FRA to LHR (not BHX) due to a combination of bad weather in Frankfurt and a security breach in MUC turning LH into a complete shitshow. They wouldn’t / couldn’t rebook me onto BA either (after cancelling my flight and being full to everywhere in the UK) so I pulled out my App and booked a RFS FRA-LHR right there at the LH service desk in the J lounge. The agent WAS able to get my baggage which was in transit (as I was mid way through a TXL-FRA-BHX itinerary) moved over onto my BA flight - and was very very polite (as was I!)

Of course I then had a flawless MF service including cold or hot towels and PDB of juice / water due to a 30 minute atc slot restriction. I even got a meal despite booking c 1 hour before….

So yes it’s rational to try elsewhere but all airlines have their off days. I’ve had some nice LH flights even in Y and a pretty mediocre one in longhaul J. But in my view you have to pick whichever flight on whichever airline is right for your circumstances!

And how nice is it to have these threads again - the world must be getting back to normal!