I'm looking at flights to Dubai with either BA or Qatar. I would like to sample q-suites, but budget won't stretch to J both ways. However I also need 275TPs as have no further travel planned this TP year..
Now ideally I would book LHR-DOH-DXB on Qatar Metal (140+60TPs) and return via BA (90TP).
However two anomalies stick out:
1. I can't book BA operated WTP on Qatar ticket.
2. Booking LHR-DOH-DXB on Qatar metal via BA ticket puts me in Economy on DOH-DXB rather than First which is booked via Qatar. This means that there are 40-50TPs less than similar flight on a QR ticket.

Is there any way around this? Why does BA downgrade J pax and QR upgrades them for the regional flight (especially since Regional F is actually a J seat)