Flybywire makes a good point and my apologies to her and her colleagues at LGW. Comments in my previous posting were not LGW-oriented.
Fell into the trap, as many seem to do, of generalising across all BA - instead of restricting my comments to LHR and its ongoing problems.
Need to change my routings and fly the Gatwick experience more often methinks! Especially after reading some of FBW's previous postings about new(ish) cc uniform and entertaining the SLF!