SFF, you intrigue me. On the one hand you have some very reasoned and well researched points on the source of this issue. Your response seems less reasoned however, and more from the knee-jerk man-the-barricades school.
I raised the point of tax credits about 10 pages ago, albeit not as eloquently as you. And that's the rub. This is a crisis created by a government that private business is having to sort out. It goes far wider than BA. All the major companies that used to run final salary schemes are closing them to new members and, in some cases, closing them all together. Companies are asking people to work longer and that is exactly what the Turner report says.
This crisis is not created by BA. The airline is in a reasonable financial state by comparison with other airlines but it's not exactly cash rich (despite what look like eye-popping numbers). As BA Beancounter says, all the cash is pretty much allocated on future commitments.
The basis on which these schemes were set up was that corporate earnings paid to pension funds were not taxed twice. As I understand it, they are now taxed twice thanks to Gordon's tax xhanges in 98. So the pension funds have less cash to meet their obligations.
This is a political issue. Vote Labour out and have the Conservatives remove that tax burden on pension funds.
As for manning the barricades and destroying BA, I simply do not understand that mindset. You will cut off your nose to spite your face. Half a cake is better than no cake.
Play brinkmanship, sure, but recognise that it's a dangerous game. Having worked out in reasoned terms what the source of the crisis is, a reasoned response is what is called for to maximise your benefits. Anything else and you're going to lose.