If the issue to be confirmed is LHR and the BA situation, is it not slightly strange that it's only the LHR flights that are on sale for winter. Why not wait with all destinations, rather than have people book Heathrow, with the potential to later have to tell them they're flying from a different airport, or a rearrangement of schedules.
Besides the BA codeshare, not sure the percentage of EI passengers that are connecting onwards with BA, is LHR not a more late booking market compared to the sun destinations, as a city break and business destination. Therefore EI are loosing more business by holding off the European destinations, than had they held off putting LHR on-sale for the winter???