Also interested to hear more from you BA pilots who speak about vueling. What do you envisage? Vuelings product is the opposite end of the spectrum is it not? A different customer base even?
Until about a decade ago some in BA thought the same about
all the LoCos, and I think there was a very dangerous assumption made by some in the company that BA's superior customer service ( and I feel I need to emphasise this:
)meant that our natural customer base would always tend to fly with us. Then the likes of Easyjet started to encroach on the likes of LGW. From conversations I have had and from what I have seen if timings and costs fit then BA's "natural" customers, yes even business class passengers,
will certainly fly with the LoCos, and yes, even if they are connecting to/from a BA Longhaul flight...
At the end of the day I'm sure the accountants at IAG have looked at the costs of operating Vueling into LHR vs BA will have come up with a long term plan.....and unfortunately it probably won't involve BA shorthaul flight crew remaining on their current T&Cs.
All IMHO of course.