I am a brit who has lived out here for only 18 months and its nice to find some things we agree on.
We can all look at things and say how it could be better. I can only comment on the things in my little world. We have only travelled with with a few airlines so can only comment on those. You agree that from Boston to London my options are limited and BA is the better one.I could increase my options if I used any of the New York airports but I won't as I like Boston Logan.
We do get some of the older aircraft of the BA fleet and I also understand that its not a popular route with the crews.
We have also in the past used BA on european routes (Mrs. J spent 18 months comuting between the UK, Germany and Portugal).
I will agree that overall standards have dropped but I think this has happened across the board. Early Easyjet flights were much better than todays, the same applies to Virgin. I flew with Virgin to Miami in the early 90's and service was much better than current flights.
Why sould this be so?
I believe the answer to that not just one thing but many and varied, and if I knew the whole answer I could be a very wealthy man. I know where to start and that is customer satisfaction first and foremost.