The whole BA staff travel business is a shambles. Whether it is contractual or not is an argument which BA have arbitrarily decided in their own favour without any input from those affected. I don’t really have any complaints as I shall be 89 when my entitlement expires and if I am capable of using the facility I shall be so happy (and surprised) I will gladly pay the full price.
However what I find particularly galling is the fact that through interline agreements, anyone with a retired staff entitlement with any participating airline will be eligible for ST on BA for life, after their BA counterpart has been binned. As I understand it virtually all other “legacy” airlines that offer staff travel to others do not place a time limit on retiree’s ST.
It is a poorly thought out diktat typical of today’s bean-counters who put no value on past loyalty or performance in a company. Had the new policy been put in place for those joining BA after a certain date then nobody would have been upset or inconvenienced, certainly all my generation believed that ST was for life, whether an entitlement or not.