The simple answer to the question for me is that if it's cost effective, I will continue to maintain (or even improve) status. I travel a reasonable amount, and silver has for me a notional value of over £1000/year for me (and my family) in terms of free seat selection and a guesstimate of lounge visit value. Add to that the soft benefits of a generally nicer airport experience (Business check in, fast track security and boarding) when traveling in the cheap seats - that's a very nice to have, especially as you get older.

With the current BA Hols promotion, it does not require any real acts of travel contortionism to get and keep silver. Even if that gravy train ends, I think I'll still manage it without too much effort.

And all for a relatively marginal extra cost over just picking the cheapest flight every time. Especially when you net off the Avios you get back from travel - Mrs RC and I will get 40k of them between us for our upcoming trip to the Greek islands...

To me it's a no-brainer.