I've always been annoyed with this partly because I find it absurd for how much you pay for a ticket when even as a Y pax you can select SOME seat depending on fare purchased.

While Ive been OWE since 2001 or GGL since I switched to BA 3 years ago, I first was burned when I booked an avios ticket for my niece and discovered how much the charge was (she was young and it was her first intl trip so wanted to ensure she wasn't stuck in a middle J seat)

I don't see how difficult it is to add free seat selection and still block prime seats for golds and another subset for silvers and then either pay or wait until check in for all other seats--lile regular shorthaul

Further partner airlines like AA and CX who offer free seat selection still block off prime seats from OWEs but again BA remains the "special snowflake"