I have not been able to read all of this thread and the other one. That is the one from which all those apparently persecuted by BA, or persecuted by those who are persecuted by BA are banned.
But from the little reading here and there, I thinks that when all the chaos was happening because of the eruption of Eyjafjallajokul there were many British Airways passengers who were stranded in various places through out the world.
It is my thoughts that BA made serious efforts to bring these passangers back to England as speedily as possible. It is further what I understand that BASSA and UNITE absolutely refused to bend the agreements they have with BA even the tiniest little bit, thereby enormously adding to the misery and expense of passangers who were left stranded, not by British Airways, because the strike was not even on then, but by the BASSA people themselves.
What has been written above is only my uinderstanding and it is not a statement of fact. However, I am a little astonished that it would appear that the British press would also seem not to have picked up this story if it is true. This of course, since the British press is so excellent, probably means that the story is entirely, as you say, apocryphal. (?) So what happens now when, as seismologists and geologists seem to be thinking is going to happen and Katla goes boom? Will BASSA allow its agreements or whatever they may be terminologied, to be flexible to save the citizens or will it not ride to the top of the hill to plant the Joe Rosenthal it so proudly and possibly disgracefully inappropriately claims as its own logo?