It’s a point I’ve made several times in this thread, but it bears repeating: If he needs so many Tier Points to retain Gold, mightn’t it be worth considering Silver instead?

The F Lounge and First Wing at Heathrow are perks which really benefit the most frequent of travellers - not those who only fly on occasion. Yes, selecting Seat 1A is nice, but you can have your pick of the rest of the cabin as Silver anyway.

Unless there’s a purpose to the trip, Tier Point runs are best suited to topping up the balance when you’re close to Gold (at least in my view).

As things stand, it sounds like he’s only just over half way to Silver.