Back in the early 90's, I definitely found BA long haul pretty poor, with a very 'take it or leave it' attitude. These days, I find it very different, with a real bias towards good customer service, both long and short haul. LGW are especially good. Although the only time I flew BCal into there, it was two flights too many - for me, that was a real crap airline for service! (Also for a friend who flew them to Libya several times)
Of course, it may be that having a BA Gold card helps........
You see enough bullsh*t though, that you can tell there are far too many managers compared to the people up the sharp end - and the sharp end people who matter as far as customers are concerned.
I'm getting withdrawal symptoms - I haven't been on a 'plane this month, and probably won't go anywhere now until early December - and that's likely to be from LGW on BA!