I have to say I do like my inflight PAs ... infact to the extent I really get annoyed when a pilot says "as this is a night flight, I won't be speaking to you til ..."! I like to know what's going on, where we are, what interesting feature we're over, what the route is, etc. I haven't flown United, but I've heard the feature to listen to comms from the cockpit is supposed to be good. Maybe BA will follow suit.
Jordan