Never noticed that although I seriously doubt it. What I suspect they mean are the wide range of non *A airlines that have codesharing agreements with BD for feeder traffic. (Like SA, VS, etc)

The 50% credit for non-transatlantic flights on LH is indeed a drawback which bugs me more and more. Unless (you and) your wife plan to do a great deal of longhaul travel on LH it shouldn't really be an issue.