Cor.
Firstly, can I correct a factual inaccuracy above. GB's operations on the Gatwick-Edinburgh route (a nightstop, if I remember rightly) were undertaken on a wet-lease basis for BA Gatwick, i.e. at BA Gatwick's commercial risk. Without wishing to detract in any way from the validity of a number of the points of view expressed here, Memphisbelle, I'm afraid that this one simply cannot stand! BA's presence on the Gatwick-Edinburgh route stands or falls, and always has, on the basis of commercial decisions and cost bases determined by EOG.
I think we are getting a little too tied up in one particular aspect of the debate here. I know the topic title is about GB pilots but the aircrew remuneration and working practices at BA (by which I mean both flight and cabin crew) are part of a wider problem - not the sole decisive factor - which enable GB to make profits on routes where BA cannot. I fully subscribe to fiftyfour's fine logic earlier in that ceasing the current franchise arrangement cannot be in anyone's interests, least of all the customers who keep all of us in a job in case some of you hadn't noticed.
Instead of a lengthy-running internecine feud between pilots who all fly aircraft with British Airways down the side, has anyone actually bothered to consider (let alone tackle) the problem at the root of all of this - BA's costbase? It will take a concerted effort from everyone in the company (including the pilots) to sort the tangled web of arrangements, agreements, contracts and problems built up over years of relationships with employees, suppliers and customers alike to get that business onto a sound footing. There ain't no sign of that effort starting either at the top or bottom of the ladder right now and that's where I think you ought to be concentrating the venom.