Well, you assume that non-TP runners won't buy them, and I believe that they would. TP runners (and not necessarily TP-runners but many BAEC members in general) would often buy I class tickets months in advance because they were carefully planning their TPs earning throughout the membership year. There is no basis to think that that those I class seats would not have been sold a month or two later to a leisure traveller who does not plan travel 9 months out; it just meant that the status holder got their first because she or he was planning way ahead. Many flights simply do not have those lowest selling classes months in advance, so you need to plan accordingly. And let me correct myself - it is not about price per se, but rather lower selling classes. BA is still offering same very lower fares from multiple markets, and if the thinking is that former BAEC members are not buying them then who is? All I am saying is that I think that "cheap" seats will sell themselves, so BA is simply replacing one set of status holders with another, if it is not attracting additional revenue from new status holders, which is why I called it a "wash."