I also just did a dummy non-HBO booking to Edinburgh and had all exit rows greyed out. The official policy (which I'm pasting here, before they alter it) doesn't make any reference to short-haul seats, which you'd assume means free for Gold / Silvers.
https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb...sing-your-seat
Membership of the Executive Club, and equivalent oneworld partner frequent flyer programmes, includes seat selection at certain tiers:
- Gold Members (oneworld Emerald) – free seat selection from the time of booking for everyone in your travel party (except on hand baggage only fares).
- Silver Members (oneworld Sapphire) – free seat selection from the time of booking for everyone on your booking (except on hand baggage only fares and not including exit row or bulkhead seats on longhaul flights).
- Bronze Members (oneworld Ruby) – free seat selection from seven days before departure for everyone on your booking (except on hand baggage only fares and not including exit row or bulkhead seats on longhaul flights).
- Blue Members – free seat selection from 24 hours before departure when check-in opens (except on hand baggage only fares).