Managed to reschedule my flight to Sydney to the 21st. Well done to the BAEC customer service. They seemed to be gob smacked as well.
Last flight on British Airways I predict. Next flight will probably be on BA Airways. That is the airline that will rise out of the ashes of BA (much like SWISS) without a pension fund that is killing and with very lean contracts, much like those at Virgin. IB will be happy too.