Originally Posted by maalloc

We are on the same situation. I travel on my own dime, commuting 20 000 km every month, and can't justify flying AF J anymore with the post-Covid price increases.

Soft benefits experience might depend on the routes though. Anecdotal data points seem to indicate that the most-wanted routes, by definition operated by the most senior FAs, end up not getting the best service due to lack of motivation. My travel pattern is not diversified enough to have a strong personal opinion on this theory, but it does make sense.

I do suspect that the status on iPad bug is widespread, given that I sometimes got surprised look when chatting with FA in the galley while mentioning that I am Elite+, and how many times I slipped through the iPad greeting song & dance. It's common to see a FA do it thoroughly, row by row, and being skipped in the process. Not a complaint on this side -- I find the process mainly pointless... but noteworthy nonetheless.

In a weird way, I find Platinum status more satisfying than Ultimate. It was more frustrating to deal with the uncertainty of soft benefits (pre boarding russian roulette comes to mind) than to fly expecting nothing special and plan accordingly. It somehow makes the whole experience more streamlined.

Originally Posted by stuvoi

I did Birmingham -> CDG -> Sao Paulo the other month.
Was a little worried about the transfer time at CDG, (I was sitting in 1D) in the Birmingham to CDG flight, so asked the Cabin crew about the gate.
He told me not to worry and someone was going to pick me up, when we landed discovered I had been upgraded from Business to La Premier and had a Porsche waiting to take to me the lounge, then over to the plane an hour or so later.

On the return flight, with KLM, I got a personal greeting...