Regarding LIFO etc: bmi went to some length in conjunction with BALPA a couple of years ago when the pilot headcount had to be reduced. A matrix by which redundancies would be made included a performance element along with sickness/attendance criteria so that the legal/HR bods were satisfied that a challenge by a disgruntled pilot made redundant would be able to be defended against. That was agreed between the company and the union and as such formed part of the Agreement For Service (AFS) and the pilots' contract.
I'm not saying whether or not it would stand up in a court of law, etc.- just that an up to date mechanism broadly linked to length of service that was designed to deal with a redundancy situation has been in place at bmi for a while now.
BA have decided that this method will not be used even though they technically don't own the company yet; a by product of which would save them the expense of offering the affected pilots a position at LHR along with the relocation package. Could this be the primary driver in this sorry mess?
BTW, when BA shut down its outstations did it summarily dismiss all of the crews based there, or was a relocation package offered?