The 'contract law' that relates to baggage can be found in international conventions and eu regulations, maybe that's what your baa source is talking about, but it applies to them all. It is a good assumption that all airlines will hide behind these regulations and treat you poorly when things go wrong, that's unless your name is posh spice. There is another thread where somebody has been waiting for his artificial leg for a week, and he didn't fly on Ryanair.
I've found that some airports are better than others. It's the ones which have got busy in the past five years and have modern infrastructure that are the best.