I’m not the frequent flyer in our family, I got involved in this forum primarily for info for my better half.
I’ve got no status at all, pretty much, but she’s Platinum ... I’ve managed to fly with her internationally 3 times now, and as a pleb there’s definitely some Wow Factor involved in a good 1st lounge & in clean dedicated toilets & in showers when you’ve got a 4hr wait in an airport!
Plus we flew my mum & sister down to Melbourne last year for Mum’s birthday; it worked well having the business class lounge as a place to pass some time & even grab lunch on the way, especially as travelling with people who don’t travel often can be full of unexpected delays so you want to be there a tad earlier than usual. And as first-timers, they thought it was pretty cool too, even though that lounge isn’t a patch on the international QF J lounge let alone F.
Unfortunately, I believe her Platinum membership disappears at the end of May; I’ve not had a chance to do the CX thing in HK, she said even the London CX lounge was pretty nice.
We’re taking a J trip on China Airlines to the UK next month (thanks to AFF for the heads-up on J fares that cost the same as SG Premium and cheaper than QF!) ... even though I know Sky Team lounges are pretty lame & the CI lounge in Taipei ain’t so great (dunno why Asian airlines don’t do noodles & dumplings & the like - surely that can be done cheaper than sangers & taste way better!), I’m still going to be enjoying myself in said lounges & the fact that our 4hr-ish waits in Taipei will have somewhere to sit around & shower.