Looks like I'm late to the (terrible) party here, as I've only just stumbled across this now.
As somebody who used to spend probably close to 75% of their avios on inter-asia CX J, typically at 24-48 hours notice, this is horrible. Have people had any luck over the phone since?
While I have no doubt mainland redemption fraud is a thorny issue, surely there has got to be a better way of combating it than this? For example, only allowing redemptions in the name of the account holder on these at-risk sectors?
It really feels like BA is getting chipped away at (/enhanced) from all sides at the moment..