I’ve read most of this thread but two contributions, first from BerksFlyer (I think I’ve got that right), and second Bisonrav (again I hope that’s correct) stood out as far as my own thinking goes.
First, and to do with discretionary spend, I’m in a similar situation to BerksFlyer. I could fairly straightforwardly get a Silver Card under the new regime if I was so inclined. I could make Gold too if I felt the benefits from the investment were worth it, but at £20,000 I simply don’t. My husband believes it may be and, if so, when we travel together, my own diminution in status is somewhat mitigated.
The second point was to do with how BA respond to their customer’s reaction. This is where I am with Bisonrav: I shall wait and see. I will have Gold until 2026 and (soft landings assuming) Silver until 2027. If BA pull a ‘reverse ferret’ to quote my favourite magazine I shall see where that leaves me. If not my husband, who spends a lot of time in Finland specifically and Scandinavia more generally, will switch to the Finnair programme, and I shall cross over to the dark side: Virgin, KLM and Air France (whom I like) here I come.
I came to flyertalk quite by chance, when I was in my early 20s. The BAEC (as it was) forum got me a silver card, showed me the value of 62A et al, got me a Gold Card and here we are almost sixteen years later.
Like so many others there are aspects of the British Airways experience that, thanks to this forum, I shall miss, but there’s a whole world out there. Let us make the most of it. BA’s crumbling organisation has as part of its sticking plaster the frequent flyer programme. Let’s see how well it holds together when that gets ripped off.
Onward and upward. (And see you all back here in three years when they’ve decided it was an unmitigated disaster 🤣
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