That is what I thought. You can get cheaper by £400-£500, if you choose non direct flights. I did that this year in April, and flew indirect to save a bit of money. At LHR, BA were totally disorganised in April, and they allowed 6~ flights to be impacted by their disorganisation. I arrived 3+ hours early, and after 3 hours waiting in the queue, I wasn't able to checkin before the flight closed. They could have sent people queuing for their American flights to the manned checkin desks that were empty!!!!!

After pushing them, they agreed to put me on BA275, which is direct to LAS. That was also late to depart by 1-1.5 hours, due to the aircraft coming in late, and a technical problem on the aircraft. What would have been my SEA-LAS flight was also delayed by several hours. Despite me getting a later flight, which itself was delayed, I arrived into LAS earlier than I would have done if I had done LHR-SEA-LAS. On the way back, it was LAS-LAX-LHR - LAS and LAX flights were also delayed!