Shuttlecock - nice theory about BA "politely be declining to pay on time for anything" - the reality is, of course, rather different. All of those suppliers have staff and their own commitments and if BA together with other large creditors refuses to pay on time then those companies will go to the wall.
In the worst case scenario, if BA was to employ such tactics, all of their suppliers would put them on a 'cash only' basis - and as we all know that means that airlines can no longer take advantage of the cashflows.
Evolante's scenario is considerably more accurate.
I'd suspect we'll see substantially more job and pay cuts in the very near future coming out of Waterworld - as well as the sale of subsidiary operations (including BACE?) ... if they can realise anything for them!
As for Virgin - without direct government aid, it looks like the Woolly Pully's house of cards may well tumble before Christmas instead of April as many were forecasting.