Do not fly so much now but always been interested in these discussions. In my opinion BA CC would rate overall (1m air miles with them) as pretty good. Over that amount of flights that’s ok in my book-yes there are bad experiences but they occur everywhere. A telling point for me was travelling to Grenada some years ago and BA had disgracefully outsourced the cabin crew ops to another UK charter airline. They were pleasant and friendly boys and girls but within minutes of being on board I had this sense of something not right-not quite BA and it showed in a lack of professionalism.
As for good experiences elsewhere SAS in the early 1990s with a wonderful selection of silvery grey hostiles who were very good but usually much older than the flight deck. Malaysian who are friendlier than other Asian Airlines and Lauda-small airline unique style.
I think with BA the problem is that they are British and as a nation we are friendly most of the time but we can be very bloody minded and awkward- its kept us an independent nation for a thousand years so that’s not something we can easily disavow. As some posters have said the world is changing and T&Cs from the past don't work well or are hard to afford in today’s world. The problem comes when people are forced to concede status perks and money by people who are not in any way sharing the pain-in fact who are getting more money, perks and status. In this sort of situation our natural bloody mindedness kicks in and does sometimes show up as rudeness or poor service. I am not saying some crew are not to blame but just making an observation.
BA and UK are not alone in this Look at Qantas –oddly enough another nation with a stubborn streak – and read some of the threads on PPRUNE about how their management are regarded and what that has done to relationships and service and indeed is bringing the airline slowly to its knees.