I don't know of a CAA comparison that has been published since around 2003 now - of course if you use headcount and divide by the cost line that they do publish, you can approximate the cost per head and then compare. Do you have the time and inclination?
We all screwed up - credit cards, houses on credit, excess salary, electing Maggie, Tony and Gordon. No need to blame any one in particular - competition killed the BA advantage, not the economy dying.
To a certain extent, it's a self-fulfilling prophesy. There are undoubtedly a number of BA cabin crew who would not have joined at all, had the pay and conditions not been the way they are. Fair enough. However, they are the ones who choose to stay on, precisely because of the pay and conditions which cause costs to constantly inflate due to the pay points.
You are absolutely right - hence some various posts against seniority that I have made in the past...but then the old chestnut of
how exactly one gets promoted needs to be addressed...
I have had this argument in the pub before - should those who go the extra mile get their shot at promotion over and above everyone else? Should everyone get a turn when they get x% up the seniority list. In every other company, it
is those who go the extra mile who get promoted, and not the everyman who does his 9-5. Wrong? Maybe...but surely that is what you want in someone who is effectively a manager, albeit a cabin manager, rather than the oldie who has been around the longest.
Same applies for flight crew IMHO, but that discussion won't make me popular.