The rumours I mentioned were general to Chase cards, in that sometimes people are given non Visa Signature versions of cards under situations like mine (card application accepted, credit allowed low).

However, I found something more specific to this card here:

http://www.britishairways.com/travel...s/public/en_us

If you scroll down to footnote 1, you'll see it says:

"You will first be considered for a Visa Signature card. If you do not qualify for that product, you will automatically be considered for a Visa Platinum card, which has different fees, benefits, and credit availability. For pricing details, please see Pricing & Terms. For benefits details, please read your credit card benefits materials which will be mailed after your account is established."

I'm just hoping Chase have softened on their $5k limit for Visa Signature, and I can swap some credit limit over from a less used card.