A lot of " disgusted" emotion here rather than realism.
Buzzcocks!!
FYI the Airport Authorities in the UK do not provide the wheelchair service to the airlines. Airlines are responsible individually for financing their wheelchair/disabled pax mobility arrangements.
In BA's case, both at LHR and LGW, we use OCS ("One Complete Solution"). The service is paid for by BA, who absorb the costs into the ticket prices. This has always been the case with all airlines until Messrs. Easyjet and Ryanair came along thrying to "cherry-pick" customers.
Given a level playing-field - NO unfair subsidies or reduced fees at airports, MUST carry disabled pax at no additional charges, MUST supply Unaccompanied Minor service, MUST supply assistance for Blind/Partially-Sighted pax and Pax with Hearing impairment - then we will see which airlines survive!!! Oh....and it is usual for an airline to continue flying a route up to the end of the timetable period (so that a "service" is maintained) and not axing it "with immediate effect" because it's not making money!
Ryanair has effectively ruined the European short-haul route network by adopting practises which the scheduled carriers are unable to copy. Their fares are,
in reality no cheaper (apart from the couple of "sprats" thrown to catch the "mackarel") and no "service" is offered.
There's nothing wrong with Free-Enterprise and a little healthy competition, but I can't stand to see this"no-frills" carrier extracting the urine sample!!!