It would be unfortunate if the whole airline 'went down the tubes' as you hope. I don't work for them but I do know there are a lot of good people there who pull out the stops on a daily basis. There will always be the odd 'clown' anywhere and it may be possible that you might have encountered one that then hardened your disposition towards that airline. I agree with a lot of what you wish for but not that it goes down the tubes. For me there has always been a guaranteed bottom line to the product they provide and it would be so very sad if this current dispute hastened the end of BA but I doubt that. It's a complicated endeavour to run an airline and there does have to be some degree of 'bureaucracy' to keep things stabe and that everyone on the front line is not making it up as they go along - same anywhere really. Asking the person at the bottom of the chain to put his or her neck on the block to facilitate something going against the rules seems fair enough but if they say no, then why bear a grudge? Like I say, there are some great people there, doing there utmost, don't wish them out of a job.
TURIN - Good post
Ted