I've been BA Silver or Gold for about 10 years. For a long time I was also EXP with AA, but then I reduced my travel a few years ago and just kept BA status. I'm based on LA, so access to the AA Flagship Lounge is really nice, as is the Qantas First Class Lounge (in the years when I make Gold). I used to do a lot of international flying in C and F and was thus able to double up on status. Now I mostly travel domestically in paid First on AA, with a fee short hauls in the UK (or nearby) each year to get in my 4 flights on BA (I usually get to the UK on mileage tickets in C). So, these changes are super annoying but not necessarily a deal breaker for me. I spent about $10k on AA and BA flights last year, so presumably would have met the £7k threshold and retained Silver status if the new system had already been in place. But, in the current system that $10k got me Gold status. That's clearly better, but the incremental benefits between Silver and Gold are marginal for me (access to the Qantas lounge is the only difference in benefits I miss when I'm Silver). And, the crazy tier point system sometimes incentivized me to take longer flights than necessary (such as connecting somewhere that was 2k+ miles away so I would get 180 tier points (140+40) rather than 80 (40+40 for two shorter legs that would be more direct)--so in that sense this new system may be a bit more convenient for me. I certainly could not have retained EXP status on AA at my current rate of travel and spending, and I decided several years ago that BA Silver is more valuable to me. Even so, the spend to retain Silver going forward is very high and right at the limit I can envision given my travel patterns. I'm not certain it is sustainable for me...