As one of the call centre guys on here has said, it wasn’t only done to make life difficult for customers. There are a lot of customers who would press the button without reading that they’re not getting a full cancellation (if their flight isn’t actually cancelled), which creates more calls later when they complain. At least the way it’s done today agents can warn them first and offer a voucher as an alternative where it’s actually the most appropriate offer.

As much as I love to bash BA, I do have some sympathy with this view - particularly now call wait times have decreased massively from the peak.