corporate-wage-slave

I've had a PM from the OP to this effect. She will doubtless have more to say tomorrow and in the meantime will read any posts with interest.

BertieBadger

You may find the additional Avios alone is worth as much as you paid to gain Gold, especially if doing a lot of trips down the back of the bus.

As a completely arbitrary example, flying EDI-LHR-JFK return once a month, in Y (in one of the Economy Low fare buckets K, L, M, N, S, V), and assuming I've got my sums vaguely correct would net you over the year:

Silver: 94,992 Avios
Gold: 142,488 Avios

So just by virtue of the tier bonus, you'd net nearly 48,000 additional Avios, and using a nominal value of 1p per Avios, that's certainly worth your investment. Of course, I have no idea what your travel patterns are and where the base fare Avios is higher the Gold bonus will have proportionately less effect, but if you're doing 40 to 50 sectors, you could see a healthy uptick in your Avios income.

Calloway

Just FYI, even if you fly in to YYZ, you could book a seprate ticket with AA to PIT. There are no direct flights so you can earn an additional 160 tier points. If you book early enough you can get this fare for around £300. I've done this (and also have driven) from YYZ to PIT many times.

YYZ also has US pre-clearance so you wouldn't have to go through US customs again at either your connection or at PIT.

flatlander

Regarding the First wing at LHR, I don't prize the checkin (and I usually check a bag) nearly as much as the security. It's one of the few security experiences at an airport, anywhere, that doesn't raise my stress level. No queueing, no people calling out instructions at you without listening to what you say, no fools screwing things up in front of you, no chance of a very long wait if the scanner operator doesn't understand something in the bag or is having a fussy day and sends your bag to secondary search, etc.

The First Wing security is one of the few places that doesn't treat me like some sort of mildly hostile farm animal to be processed.

Ancient Observer

So anyone who posts an alternative view to you, your majesty, is a fool?

Geordie405

I think this is a little misleading. It is perfectly feasible to achieve Gold through flying WT+ although I would definitely agree that it's more tedious in that you require more flights. When I was living in Brussels I achieved Gold through lots of WT+ flights to the Middle East and the US west coast. I think I needed seven round trips via LHR to get over the 1500 threshold. Travelling in J obviously reduces that, and F reduces it further still. However, having Gold status does offset the ignominy of flying in WT+ to a greater or lesser extent by affording access to priority check-in and boarding, lounge access etc.

There are some other benefits. As a OWE you occasionally get upgraded on partner flights (I have had upgrades on AA and CX) and you also tend to be towards the top of the list for clearing when on standby for a flight (I am referring to AA here). On one occasion I landed early into LAX for an onward flight to LAS and had the lounge add me to the standby list for the earlier flight. By the time I walked from the lounge to the gate my request had cleared and I was being called to the podium for a new boarding pass.

Would Gold be worth it to the OP? Only they can make the value judgment - but given the number of people who obsess over retaining it year after year (myself included) I'd strongly suggest it is, especially if within 100 points or so.

CKBA

Well, personally, I would if you're close. For many years I was bouncing around the 1200-1300 TP range, being totally ignorant to FT and the vagaries of the different membership levels. In many ways it was a case of being lost, but now found (!).

Anyway, the F'Lounge experience is nice, and a good step-up from the business class lounges; additional Avios are very useful (I usually use them on my daughters & friends), and the occasional recognition is nice (when done correctly).

At the very least, if you're close, try it. If you're on the East Coast you can consider a US TP run. Something like NYC-CLT-LAX-CLT-NYC can be done in a day for about $1000 and 360 TPs in 'First'. Oh, and of course, on the internal AA flights you get free food, a 'premium' beverage (and of course access to the main cabin extra)

madfish

Peter Ould

I switched to BA in the summer and will very likely be Gold by the end of my year (or close enough to do a quick TP run to take me there). I do lots of hops in Y around Europe and the Middle East with occasional trans-atlantic journeys in WT or WT+ (quite often at least one leg of theWT+ is upgraded to J).

For me the thing about Gold would be (i) the First Channel at T5 where I do most of my flying from and (ii) those extra Avios. Those two alone a worth "buying" the extra TPs to get me there.

GentleGiant

We have had Gold for just over a year.

However we will lose it fairly soon as we didn't quite renew this year as had to opt for an Emirates flight last autumn.

I think all I will miss is the first class wing at LHR - we usually always fly business, so no great benefits there.

The first lounge at LHR is okay, but it is really not that much better than the business lounge.

Ironically we are on a first class ticket next week to the west coast and when we check in on our way back to Europe we will have to use the business check in and business lounge at LHR thanks to a 16 hour layover at LHR as our status will have dropped to Silver a few days before. So it will be annoying not being able to use the first class wing, but I'm sure we will cope.

The hard part of going for gold with limited long haul flying is that if you have 2 for 1 vouchers in your account you have to decide between using them with Avios and potentially missing out on Gold or paying cash and not using them and getting Gold.

pheonix254

I'm on the other side of this.

In my experience (I'm currently Bronze) chasing status in my 20s did not make sense to me. I spend maybe the equivalent of 200GBP a year buying pay-per-use lounge access, and the odd bit of extra-legroom seating. My personal valuation of avios is around 0.6p/pt because I can never redeem when I want to, and would never use my own money to fly premium seating. Theoretical valuations of 1-4p an avios are fine. For my personal cicumstances they simply don't translate - only 3 times in the last 5 years have Avios made sense for me to use on redemptions, and they were all <36hr notice trips with no cheaper availibility from anyone else.

I'd personally value Silver as worth 300GBP in terms of excess expenditure to achieve, and gold an additional 100GBP. Then again, I find queue jumping to get on a scheduled service to be a hilarious waste of time, I view lounges as just-another-waiting-room with mediocre food and the possibility of a passable cocktail (regardless of branding as Galleries or Flounge, I've been in both. Meh!). I dislike fizzy wine. I'm perfectly happy travelling down the back, whether on my own pound or my employers. I did a very middle seat 3-4-3 AUH-JFK last year for 14 hours straight. I was fine, made some good flight-friends too. I'm just as happy sleeping on an orthopedic mattress in a 5 star hotel or on a sleeping mat in a tent in Wales in February. Plane seats aren't that uncomfortable.
I find most airports have restaurants with higher standards than airline lounges nowadays too, and after the actual cost of tickets is considered, they're often a far sight cheaper. I actively avoid flying from London because it's very inconvenient for when I'm based north of Watford - this probably plays no small part in why BA loyalty means very little to me.

My local aiport preference notwithstanding, I don't fly BA very much because other airlines freely provide what they charge for (e.g. seat reservations or shorthaul food). I can see why they do this to provide "value" for their loyalty holders, but it drives the likes of me to competitors - but that's okay, I simply don't justify enough expenditure on air travel to be BAs target market. So be it.
I have Bronze and their equivalents with Oneworld, Star Alliance, Skyteam and Etihad, If I stuck to one alliance I'd easily be able to make at least Silver if not gold, but I have made the concious decision not to bother - I simply prefer the flexibility of not having my travel influenced by a loyalty programme.

corporate-wage-slave

Unless I'm missing a key detail here (e.g. West Coast Scotland!) then I suspect you will have First access if you are travelling in First even if the final leg is in CE. It won't be CCR if it's an AA flight, but it should be the First lounge at least, and use of the First Wing if you are EEA/Swiss citizens.

BertieBadger

I'm guessing with a 16 hour layover, that your onward flight to Europe is the next day? (As if the same day, you'd be entitled to CCR lounge access I believe)

GentleGiant

16 hours layover, so do not continue until around 7am. Not fussed about the lounge, but will be frustrating not being able to use the first wing.

But will have to get used to that again.

The first wing really came into its own during the computer failures that happened a year ago.

Steve_ZA

I agree. There was a significant difference to being Gold - where we could actually speak to someone - and even those travelling in Club where the queue stretched all the way to the terminal doors.

Even on a non-IRROPS day during the school holidays or bank holiday weekends the Club/Silver and regular "Fast Track" queues can be long. Similarly the First check-in area at LGW is quicker at busy times, although I find its implementation at LHR T3 a bit pointless.