At Navylad, did you read it that way? Fascinating.

As it happens AA apologised profusely on BAs behalf, seemingly my potential future value has some worth there and was reflected in my Advantage. As someone put it the BA tough titty approach less so. As for the maths, if the luring of high value customers from other airlines were not a factor then why do status match or challenges exist or so much emphasis placed on the soft product to achieve retention?