I think you could AND should at least expect your employer to be reasonable and give you some time and respect when you are going through a family crisis. Not phone two days later and ask when you "anticipate" to be coming back to work. I never asked BA to act as a shoulder to cry on. That's not the support I needed. The support I needed was work wise and all they did was to make me feel like a burden, say that I would go down as a "no show" plus everything else they said and did. It was an enough struggle as it was, which BA could have at least tried to make it a bit easier. I'm sorry if that's too much to ask for! I don't trust for a second that we are dealing with a caring management. Not the way they have acted during the course of this dispute including telling tales to the media and all of their other little tricks.
If removing a company benefit for taking industrial action is not punishment, what is it? A favour? I can never accept a proposal which does not include full reinstatement of staff travel neither a proposal which includes it but with zero seniority.
Indeed we have created BA. The people at Waterside might "manage" the company but they never meet and spend as much time with the customers as we do. We have to accustom to and deal with every change they do. A new management takes over and destroys everything which we have achieved. They are not here for life. They are here for a few years before they move onto something else. What exactly have Willie Walsh achieved during his time as a CEO in BA? He has cost the company a lot of money and bad publicity. It's beyond me that this man still has the support of the board and the shareholders. Hopefully it will change.