egbt
You post illustrates the frustration that flight crew face with so much of the operation. The example you quote is not so much incompetence on the part of engineering but more an indication of the pressure under which they work due to the continual cost cutting to the point where the operation suffers.
BA still suffers from many legacy issues, gross overmanning, above average Ts & Cs for the majority of staff and many, many working practises which have no place in the present. Instead of tackling the difficult issues, which is basically what the latest diispute is about i.e. bringing the CC into the real world, cutting costs in every other area of the operation has been the norm and in 99% of cases has gone so far as to severely damage our reputation as an airline.
As a passenger you have noticed, and from comments to me from other passengers, so have most regular travellers. I think that fact has finally been noticed on high but bringing our unacceptable cost base under control is a necessity to enable us to once again offer a desirable product.
To give some more examples of the cost cutting stupidity we, as crew, have bright yellow cardboard labels tied to our suitcases to identify the crew bags because they are handled differently from passenger bags. Some bright spark reduced the former robust quality of the labels (each label able to be used for eleven flights). The new thinner labels tear off and are lost after just one or two flights.
You also mention the quality of food, you would not believe the pig swill loaded for crew. I rarely now eat crew food and generally self cater. I won't mention the often 45 minute wait for the crew bus once we have finished our duty (often after having had to wait for buses to collect our passengers in the first place).
If WW succeeds in bringing BA staff into the current century I fervently hope that we can once again concentrate on regaining the reputation we have so badly squandered in recent years.