Blimey LondonMet.....Haven't you been paying attention? BA will do only what is necessary in law, and as cheaply as possible. BA legal affairs will make sure it will also be legally watertight. If that means ring fencing the old BMI (like EOG when it started) then so be it. All boxes will be ticked, except the one that keeps BMI pilots happy.
I do not have any inside information, apart from having been present when Dan Air was purchased and EOG set up, however, I do hope that the majority of BMI pilots are not as naive as some posters on this thread otherwise they will not last 5 minutes in BA. We had some very bitter and upset people working for us for a long time after that takeover.