Kudos to anybody that has read every post in this thread; much like my interaction with FlyerTalk itself, I've dipped in and out. The thing is, I'm not a typical FTer: I've never done a back to back or an ex-EU trip. Whilst I have tied myself to BA, my status (Gold) has been achieved organically; ironically, through increased business travel post-COVID! In tying loyalty to revenue, I believe that what BA have done here is absolutely correct, it's just that the thresholds have been set way too high! I do think that we need to consider our impact on the environment, which is why some threads on here sit uneasily with me. Having said that, I'm happy to be called out as a complete hypocrite on this! Last year, my daughter's class at school were calculating their carbon footprint, and the teacher said to her, "you only have to input the holidays that you've taken this year!" In response, my daughter replied, "I have!" and luckily she didn't add that they were all in F or J!!
In terms of how these changes affect me and us: based on current bookings, I will retain Gold in the coming year but, beyond that, I will likely fall short and will not be 'chasing' it. Certainly, for our next trip to Banff we will be on AC to YYC rather than any indirect routing with BA.
As the late, great Douglas Adams wrote, 'so long, and thanks for all the fish!'