If you want to travel Business Class then pay for it, thats the money that keeps the airlines going, well the full service airlines anyway. If your mate had paid for his ticket with a Credit Card then BA could have just added the extra cost of a Class ticket to his bill.
As far a CC being a bit on the short side with pax, who can blame them, having seen the way they are treated by some if not most of the pax. They are there for Safety, the comfort bit is secondary. I don't travel a lot as a ppax but have found that if you are pleasant and polite to the CC, then they treat you very well.