[QUOTE=BAHumbug;7799139]"Because they can" is the short answer. AA fly the same route - so you could have chosen the AA frequent flier program and chosen to redeem on AA if you feel so strongly about it.<<

BA Humbug you say my sister could have chosen AA. No. She has BA miles and they are not valid on AA transatlantic flights. She will no longer participate in the BA program.

However AA requires 60,000 miles while BA requires 50,000 for the ticket. Getting tickets on AA and BA in June / July was pretty easy though they had to make minimal changes to the dates. With CO and Delta it was impossible unless they were willing to pay 100,000 miles.