Hi

This was discussed at length when 2004 UK *A promo appeared. The point was to get customers onto *A from BA/OW. As the benefits of status mostly come from flying *A (there are some significant exceptions) the airlines dont lose much and hopefully gained some valuable customers.

No I dont think it would be wise to status match anyone. The promo was targetted to a particular market where *A isnt strong.

If you want more info, perhaps you could do a search?