Originally Posted by
Adam Smith
I think you're right about why BA would offer this, but I've also found Avios to have generally crappy availability, so I suspect BA has a far bigger perception issue to counter than AC does. As [MENTION=599574]canadiancow[/MENTION] pointed out, AC has essentially eliminated this by moving to dynamic pricing. You might not like the cost, but you can always redeem Aeroplan for flights on AC metal. BA offers nothing of the sort.
This is spot-on. As previously a long-time BA Gold, I can vouch for how terrible BA availability is for Avios long-haul redemptions. BA Golds even have improved availability than everybody else, and it was still very difficult to find more than a single seat unless you booked almost a year out. If you recall Air Miles (UK) merged with the BA Exec Club & IB Plus to create Avios, so really there isn't any other significant currency in the UK to redeem BA tickets -- I'm surprised that BA even cares about the (very, very, very) poor local perception of Avios.