Another Pax speaking ...
This recession is going to squeeze a LOT of people. Here is the experience of a friend of mine from the 90/92 recession. He was working in I.T. (still is) and on contracts. He was doing very well and getting £300 a day gross self-employed (so that is before tax and paying yourself to be on holiday etc.)
In 91, he suddenly found work cut by 50% and then his contract (and others on the same project) was cut short and he was turfed out. He was on the dole. He had to use all his savings to pay the mortgage.
When he got back into work many months later, he was glad to accept much less for low level work and he took a job he hated, just to earn something. Eventually, he got back to the £300 a day - but not for seven years and by that time, inflation had taken a chunk out of it.
Now, he was self-employed and you are employed with clever contracts but, today, ALL staff at ALL companies are at risk of the same crash landing. It is horrible and you have my sympathies but the UK public has decided that they want cheap air fares. Since fuel costs are rising - something else has to give. By the way, it's not just BA staff that can SOMETIMES be too superior for their own good - other mainline carriers on both sides of the Atlantic can do that too.