OK, this is only 1 pax (he is the boss of a 40 employee SME and has 2 colleagues who also regularly fly to IAD/ORD) so there would be no corporate deal to be had. But I would guess his stance is not alone?
I'm sure he isn't alone, but the other question is how many late purchasing, high fare paying passengers would BA lose if the had a seating policy like AA's where the people paying the most will frequently get the bad seat next to the restroom because the passengers on deep discount fares cleaned out the prime seats months ago? It's one of those problems to which there's no perfect answer, so I assume BA compromised on a solution that they thought would maximize profit. Yes, it's possible that a step change in the environment will cause them to re-think, but I for one hope they never adopt the AA / UA policies.
The only exception I've seen that might work is the CO version - they seem to block out a big chunk of the economy cabin for full fare and FF Elites until OLCI opens. That means anyone can reserve a seat, but it's certainly not going to be a prime choice, so is there a lot of value to that for the infrequent flyer?