This may well be the last straw for me. I've put up with bad IT, poor customer service, inability to get refunds, difficulties in obtaining award flights and now this.

I know TK is the easiest way for me to achieve *A gold given my flying patterns but since I fly J most often anyway, and have Priority Pass as a backup, I'm VA Platinum (which partners with SQ which is my preferred long-haul airline) do I really need to achieve Gold? Just award to SQ, or maybe even just ignore the alliance and take the "best" flight regardless of program? I can fast track to Gold with the HSBC *A Credit Card if I want that. It actually feels kind of liberating and opens up lots of new experiences.

They seem to be charging a premium price for not a very premium product. I would miss them intra-EU in J though.