skyhighbird:
Am I missing something here?
All you are missing is that BA still have the ability to pick and choose who they wish to recruit.
BA pilots are no more 'sky gods' than any other pilot working the line for a big company. The assessment that BA gives on its interview process is purely based on commercial and personal preferences. The commercial side wants to train you as quickly as possible for as cheaply as possible but to the standards and SOP's that the training department wish to achieve. The personal assessment, done by the HR weirdos and a pilot, looks at whether,
they consider
you to be suitable to fit into the organisation. Other companies do it differently, BMED was a friendly chat with the Chief Pilot, different approach but, ultimately, the same result. If they don't like you, you ain't getting in.
There are many, many perfectly ordinary guys flying the line at BA and most, if not all (bound to happen with 3500 pilots), are great to fly with both from a professional aspect and a personal.
Don't get hung up about the colour of the plane, just enjoy the job, fly without the need for paperwork and always land rubber side down.
Unless the situation gets dire and the T's & C's of BA plummet even more, then this is likely to be the scenario for the foreseeable future.
edit:
Forgot to add, the only reason
AFAIK for the preference between modular and integrated is that the training department can pretty much 'guarantee' the previous training structure of the integrated cadet as averse to the possibly 'unknown' training background of the modular. Thats all there is to it.