Have had BA Gold for the last 7-8 years. Used to be great, with 1A/K and 62/64 on the 747s. Nowadays the benefits vs. Silver are almost non-existent (boarding 1-3 shambles, poorer F lounges, no special seats to choose), BA is consistently MUCH more expensive than alternatives and they operate from the hellhole that is LHR (especially when transferring between terminals - always have a stressful time there).

One nice aspect is op-up’s to F and being able to upgrade for avios. If I was spending £20k I’d put that towards almost getting HON, but LH group has destroyed their F product with Allegris.

My short haul flights are all SK (works great as a diamond), unless ex-LHR or HEL, and long haul are almost all premium cabin (try to do paid ones on OneWorld). So the added value of my status is already questionable. I do sometimes like BA onboard when the crew are friendly, but there are other more efficient journeys I’d consider now.

Looking at QRPC, while it’s harder to get Emerald than the current BAEC, it’s a lot easier than the new programme. Avios can also be moved so I don’t end up with yet another new programme.

Already have one J booking on JAL to Japan in early April, and was looking at one with QR in Feb (am 100 TP short of renewing Gold). Question is do I keep these on BA (especially the JAL one as I’d like to use the CX and JL F lounges in LHR and HND for one of the last times)… or do I just move everything over to QR and aim for status there. Probably too early to do so while I still have BA Gold until March (?) 2026.