I appreciate your incredible wisdom on this form, CWS, and feel odd questioning it but I understand that the BA conditions of carriage apply to any ticket sold:
from.the CoC:
3a3) We sell some tickets at discounted fares which may be partly or completely non-refundable. You should choose the fare which best suits your needs and consider taking out insurance to cover instances where you might have to cancel your ticket. 3a4) Your ticket is our property at all times if it was issued by us or our authorised agents. If your ticket was issued by or on behalf of another airline, it is the property of the airline which issued it.
The agent confirmation documents clearly state that the airline conditions of carriage apply, and they are simply acting as an authorised agent on behalf of the airline.
This definitely feels like BA processes, BA ownership, and BA responsibility to me....? Agents are just agents, they handle issuance on behalf of the airline. Ie. It's not Amex's fault if BA fail to deliver. They act on behalf of the airline and take margin to cover some servicing of standard tickets, but are representative of the underlying service provider?
I guess I could push at the complaints and CEDR process and see what comes of it...