I have to say that I did find the entire ID request odd, and therefore retreated into a similar stance of minimal compliance, though (I hope) without trying to be actively unhelpful.

I really wouldn't mind having to show some ID (even photo ID) to check-in, check a bag, or board. I don't have the problems with the "security" arguments that I know cause many others to bridle; neither do I have any difficulty with photo ID being used for revenue protection purposes. If BA had a policy of requiring photo ID, as some other carriers do, then I would have cheerfully complied.

However, I frequently buy, check-in, board and fly BA domestic flights without showing any ID at all. Three out of the four members of my group would not have had to show any ID at all, for that reason, if we had bothered to stop at a SSCI kiosk first to print boarding passes, with me taking the single checked bag to the desk. I used the luggage tag because it was amusing to show that rather than the "proper" and more official-seeming membership card, although the card isn't actually any better at all because I haven't yet signed it. Indeed, a thief who'd stolen the membership card could have used that alone to get the SSCI kiosk to print all four BPs, and then used it again to check the bag.

So the whole ID request seemed to be an exercise in futility. I'm not surprised that official mandates come down from on high that no ID is required. I am surprised when front-line staff do something different. I know that I have no way of knowing whether the official mandates have reached them, and so - without any unpleasantness, I hope, on my part - I amuse myself by playing these "minimal compliance" games.

I also, equally, hope that the staff member concerned doesn't detect that I am playing such games; they're never directed at the staff.