Stall Pusher
If you had done some research you would have found out that BA is the only major airline in Europe with the pension funds on it's books.
Air France personnel's pensions are arranged through a national fund for all flight crew in France that is separate from the company, and supervised by the french government. A deficit will not weigh on the company's financial situation, the worst that will happen is that employer and employee contributions go up and pensions are frozen or lowered by a small percentage to enhance the coverage factor. In the event of bankruptcy pensions are not affected.
In KLM the pension funds for pilots and CC are specifically for that company, but privately managed and supervised by the dutch national bank. The fund is NOT on the books with KLM, so a deficit will not weigh on the company's financial situation (again: worst thing is higher conributions or frozen payments). The money is safe in the case of bankruptcy.
Don't know about Lufthansa, but I suspect it will be the same for them.
BA is in serious trouble over it's pension deficit, and it has a direct influence on financial viability and creditability. AF-KL was recently able to raise 660 million Euro through convertible bonds (they wanted 540 million but the emission was overwritten by 120 million), I seriously doubt that people are willing to invest in BA in the same way with this gaping hole in it's balance sheet...
You guys better strike a deal fast!