It is very easy to bash BA and RE but I think a few basic facts need to be remembered:-
BA had no government assistance after 9/11 , unlike US carriers who were, and who then promptly launched a price war on the Atlantic routes , their way of saying thanks for being No 1 ally !!
BA did not have any knee-jerk reaction to 9/11 like retrenching crew etc unlike another well-known UK airline who took a long time to restore morale after their initial panic.
BA is now doing very well and if they could find a way to equalise the cabin-crew costs that Virgin enjoy , they would post truly staggering profits.
I have met many people around Asia who represent UK in business etc and virtually all surprised me by their passion for BA and feeling 'at home' the moment they step aboard wherever they fly from.
BA have , and do , make mistakes from time to time , everyone enjoys beating them with big sticks when they can , but they are not going to go away and UK should be proud of them.
I am not knocking Virgin , they are also an airline for UK to be proud of , but they have been allowed to 'cherry pick' the golden routes as and when they have chosen to , so naturally they must be doing very well , but we will never know as they are not required to publish accounts , hold AGMs and account to their shareholders at regular intervals.
Let us all stop knocking BA and anyone else in the uK for that matter , as we should all be very proud of the standards we all set.