Inasmuch as I am both EXP with AA and Gold with BAEC, I can safely say that there are major benefits in having BAEC Gold (or Silver for that matter) for access to the Flagship Lounge domestically for you and a guest. I'm DFW based so every domestic flight now begins with a trip to the DFW FL. There are many ways in which you can take advantage of BAEC's TP metrics to easily procure 450TPs to make you Silver, and therefore eligible for FL access, before the end of the year.