That probably would have been a sensible way forward, but I suggested that (and just about everything else that came into my head - see my post above on reissuing an existing ticket) and BA staff asserted that the claim would be rejected. Of course those staff aren't involved in that process and there's always MCOL etc. but having had nine BA EC261 claims over the last month or so (all from BHD/LCY/BHD or BHD/LHR/BHD cancellations), together with two much delayed baggage and one damaged baggage, my patience for incurring more expenditure and waiting endlessly for yet another BA denial, followed by MCOL, is fairly low.