I had a phase where a few well timed personal flights on top of business flights I was still doing at the time where my frequent flyer program had big bonuses after covid got me into the gold tier and I did a few business class flights and kept access to the lounge for a couple of years.

It was definitely super nice and a really big difference, but yeah now that I'm flying less I've lapsed out of the gold tier and don't think I'll ever try to go for it again, it's just not worth it financially and I want to reduce my flying to the minimum necessary anyway.

Oh you know me, I don't judge, but yes, and scratch the prudent.