Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave

Yeah that's why you get in touch with this forum. I was in T5 at the time and yes flights were busy but there were other solutions. There were a number of other options, but agents - who may never have been further west of Bristol - won't have much clue about some of them unless you say "what about BA999 via XYZ" or other non hub locations. The "paid with miles" is another bit of incorrect rubbish - yes ticketing is a bit problematic, and they don't want to issue a replacement coupon, but the law says they should.