irmster

I fell 160 TPs short of silver this year and decided against making an effort to get them given recent changes. from next month will be first time in about 15 years I've not been silver or gold.

Last week I had to go to Belgrade. BA no longer fly there, so flew LH on the outbound via MUC and OS on the way back via VIE.

No doubt in my mind I had a superior service on both airlines - free food and drink, much better legroom in Y - and on the last leg I upgraded to business and the food and drink was excellent. T2 is also an absolute dream compared to T5. When I arrived back, we parked 1 minute from the Border area, there was no line for the gates, and, some what incredulously, my luggage arrived almost as soon as I reached the baggage hall. Less then 10 minutes from gate to the short term car park.

I'll still use BA where it's convenient, but I will no longer chase status. The loss of food and particularly drink did it for me.

scottishpoet

the eGates at T2 can be as variable as they are at T5, I have walked straight through and I have had a 45 minute wait Q

LH fortunately typically use gates 16 17 18 (not sure if they pay premium) so it is a very short walk to the border gates. If you end up parked on the other concourse its a long walk and there is not train alternative

jdbelfast

I've fallen to Silver for first time since 2007- BMI Gold then BAEC Gold. If my flights were mainly in Europe, I'd definitely not chase status and just go with airline that was most convenient in terms of price, time and place. However, as most of my flights are intercontinental in Y, having lounge access makes life so much easier and I feel utterly tied to OW.

windowontheAside

I've picked up *A status matches for the last couple of years, and must admit that lounge access is a nice perk to have when trying other airlines.

My forays beyond BA have all been positive so far. I'm becoming pretty agnostic these days - choice is made on schedule, price and then brand, in that order.

HIDDY

Welcome to the NPFC.....aka normal person flying club.

jdbelfast

The big minus of *A is only gold level get lounge access. While some are relatively easy to get gold, it just doesn't feel right to using gold stays on Aeagean, Turkish or Avianca while travelling on LH, Singapore or UA?

ahmetdouas

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ChampagneSocialist

I recently travelled to ARN on SAS (on an A320neo) and it was a B gate. Annoying as I had mistakenly assumed it would be the main concourse hence stayed with the LH lounge - perfectly passable but no contest to the UA lounge in the B concourse, which beats the pants off any T5 BA Galleries lounge.

LTN Phobia

T2 can be hard work - or hard walk more precisely - if you end up landing at one end of the terminal and transiting through for departure from the other end.

Still, I don't see the point in chasing status personally, especially if you consistently fly J or F only, as most of the status benefits are afforded to you by flying J or F e.g. priority check-in, lounge access, priority baggage etc. In fact flying F is the only way to access the Private Room with SQ as far as I know.

I have been straying a lot to Star Alliance (specifically to SQ) due to Wifi availability issues on BA but I still end up with the CCR.

In limited circumstances M&M Frequent Traveller (*A Silver) can get lounge access:

scottishpoet

I had a LOT flight form WAW park at the t2 "B" concourse. All my LHs have been within minutes of the border, LOT sometimes, sometimes at "B"

ILikePancakes

Slightly OT. I was intrigued by the Belgrade journey. I've done it twice this year with Swiss, both times on the return leg I've missed the connection due to Swiss delays, resulting in me arriving home 90-120 minutes later than I was expecting. Whilst the Swiss experience is nice onboard, the Swiss experience when you miss your collection is pretty horrible.

Alas, there really aren't many alternatives if one needs to travel to Belgrade.

srbrenna

I’ve tried KLM recently. They have been pretty good.

They make an effort which is more than BA do.

NewbieRunner

I believe LH has a service level agreement for the majority of their flights to use the gates close to their lounge and passport control in T2A. All widebodies use T2B (the satellite) plus some unfortunate shorthaul flights.

There are many regular LH flyers who hold Gold status from partner airlines because of the higher cost of maintaining M&M Gold.

Tobias-UK

In what way?

South London Bon Viveur

OS via VIE might be worth a try.

I have been using other airlines more, and basing decisions on price, but I am finding BA very competitive on price at the moment, certainly for short haul.