Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 43,383
I am very surprised your friend managed to get BA to agree to that. This is partly why you should follow cws's advice and do a back-to-back, or leave plenty of time so that there are other flight options in case your positioning flight gets cancelled. I think the only saving grace is that the positioning flight was with BA. Had it been with another carrier I don't think any leniency would be shown.
The exEU fares are great, I do them myself. However, I do worry when inexperienced people just see the fare and don't take account of the practicalities or the risks.