As an outsider with little vested interest (and that's unlikely to change unless BA rethink their policy on regions- so basically not gonna happen ) in terms of maintaining/extending/improving my position in the BAEC, I think the problem with the BA FFP is not that gold is easy to make, but that it is targeted to a pretty narrow range of travellers, as you can generally only make it if you fly up front. Yet the benefits (priority check-in, lounge access) are mostly things that come as standard with a J/F ticket. Therefore it only makes sense if you travel a lot on a mix of fares, as it's near impossible to make it flying Y, and somebody who exclusively flies up front only really gets the 50% bonus and access to F lounges when in Club.
Contrast that with what a HON gets (PAs, private transfers to the a/c, SEN partner card, an array of magazine subscriptions, special credit-cards, special rental car arrangements, a priority-luggage system that actually works, no-questions-asked rebooking on other carriers during irr ops etc etc), and you see why they would not really get excited about BA's shiny plastic.
I think the BA programme needs both a higher level than Gold and a way of making at least silver if you fly often in cheapo economy. e.g. 50 oneworld segments, of which 30 on BA or some such.


FB Gold's just 40k miles or 30 segments, and gives you the same benefits (just a lower status bonus). You get status credits for virtually all flights you take...Easily done with less than €3000 (and that's with normal flying, no AUH runs or triple-connections on AZ). No comparison with BA.