I certainly didn't expect it when the new Club was introduced, but I have just renewed Silver. I'd been earning around 1000 old Tier Points for the last few years with several WTP work trips to the US. The new Club coincided with a change in travel policy to Economy so I thought I'd have no chance to renew.

I've done 4 economy returns to the US with work (some booked quite late, some flexible or cancellable), BA upgraded me outbound twice and I paid to upgrade to WTP twice inbound (which also got me bonus TPs when the booking was originally Economy Basic). We also had a transatlantic BA holiday in WTP. I've had one Spain return with Iberia. Other flights with easyJet and United when they were cheaper or more convenient. Booking the holiday with BA was really the only thing I've actively done to keep status, but BA holidays are perfectly good for what we want so this wasn't a sacrifice.

By my calculations, I'd still be at about 520 old Tier Points so to my great surprise, the new scheme has worked better for me although I'd probably have got to 600 points by April in any case.

Bonus tier points were about 25% of the total - without them I think there would be very little chance of me renewing. If BA doesn't continue with them I would probably look elsewhere but as it stands, the scheme is working well for me. It seems to be working fine for BA too, and their aircraft seem totally full across the Atlantic.

As ever, I'm grateful for all the advice on this board. Given I mostly fly economy, Silver status makes my travel much more bearable - mostly being able to book window seats, but I have also become a big fan of the United lounge in Denver - and without FlyerTalk I would never have ended up here.