I recently gave a friend gold status.
I am platinum and was able to gift.
they booked a cheap class SYD to LHR and return. the first leg was virgin
on checkin she was upgraded to premium.
at the gate a business seat was given to AUH.
she was thrilled
on return in London though not upgraded she was given exit rows all the wy home.
she said the LHR EY lounge is fantastic.
good to see them looking after elite members.
anyone else with upgrade stories?

EY London lounge is great.

On my first VA international flight, as a newly status matched gold, I was upgraded on board to PE. I thought that was really nice touch, though I'll never know if it was policy or the senior cabin crew member's initiative - the route was new and the plane 1/4 full and I was moved from an empty exit row which had plenty of space.

I've never had this since on VA, and I've found that while it is relatively easy to get bulkheads/exit rows with status flying ex Sydney on a VA plane, this becomes much harder on an EY plane. I've found connecting in AUH disappointing, with a poor lounge offered to VA golds that is the one used for EY silvers - the priority pass lounges elsewhere in the terminal are better - and no priority boarding unless you insist on it. In short, very little recognition of status by EY, apart from the great lounge in London and business class check-in.

And since you can't book PE right through, I think QF/BA/VS have better offerings if you want PE, and SQ have a better option if you want Y. Flying in Y with status on these airlines is a much more consistent experience than on the VA/EY combination.