Originally Posted by
KurtBJC
The trick, unfortunately, is that many of us aren't in the UK, and that means we've got a single route on which all of our convenient redemption capacity depends. I'm in Seattle; there is no BA itinerary to anywhere which doesn't start SEA-LHR.
For your situation that you have limited routes from where you live, I can understand that it is frustrating.
But when choosing a frequent flyer programme I went for the one with the most options from where I lived, to avoid the situation you describe. I do have more options as I live 40miles from BAs main hub, but that was precisely why I chose BAEC over other airlines.