I just want to fly wrote
I'm not sure of the exact figures, but I've heard rumours that BA get £1200 for a Sydney trip, where as we get £440. This is flight pay and allowances all added together. Please correct me if I am wrong.
Actually you get £454.77 in subsistence allowances alone. The actual sum BA crew receive on a similar trip is made up of more than just there subsistence allowance. So you were not comparing apples with apples.
You might want to check the BA figure for their subsistence allowances alone for a better comparison.
When Virgin crew compare themselves against BA crew, they must realise that it took BA crew many many years to get to where they are today, and this was only achieved by taking appropriate bites of the cherry at the appropriate time.
When BA (BEA or BOAC) were at the same age as Virgin is now, their crew were earning about the equivalent wage as virgin crew earn today. But their working practices were far worse. I have parts of a BEA stewardesses contract from 1950 in front of me now. Here is sentence taken from the section concerning on-board etiquette when in the presence of Pilots.
"Stewards/Stewardesses WILL show deference to Pilots"
hmmm