FWIW I got through to the first stage of the assessment at OAA. I ticked the 80+ hours box. I have reasonable A Levels, no degree, and am over 35. I failed the COMPASS assessment, I think on the hand eye section, despite having considerable aerobatic experience etc. I can't help thinking that those years of mis-spent youth Not playing computer games probably went against me. I'm not the only one to have had this situation. Fact is, with 6500 applicants, BA can afford to throw out lots of really good candidates with the not so good, and still have a class of superstars to put through. As for those who didn't get through the paper sift, do you know for sure that your answers to the 'attitude' type multi-choice questions were correct? It's as easy for filters to be applied on these criteria, even if your essays were the best in the land. I have no proof that this might be the case, just putting it forwards for consideration.
Everyone who has tried and failed has the chance to learn something, no matter what stage they lost out at. Even if it's just the realisation that this job really isn't worth the pain, or maybe it is? There's no point on crying over what might have been, or accusations of being unfair, that's just the real world. Saying that, the guy who got the rejection / reprieve / rejection mk2 totally has my sympathy, that sucks. But for most of the applicants, you took a punt and it didn't pay off this time. Go buy your next lottery ticket and don't take it personally if you don't hit the jackpot.