Not quite a BA Captain story unless viewed through a subsequent tenuous BCAL/Dan Air ownership link but I recall being on a package holiday with my parents to Austria back in '76. BCAL 1-11 out of Gatwick to Munich. Our return 10 days or so later was also planned for the same, but it was a weekend of Spanish ATC strikes and the BCAL programme became heavily disrupted - our flight took a substantial delay.
When we were eventually called to the gate and boarded our bus, it then meandered across the apron, but there was no sign of a BCAL 1-11. However, in the direction we were heading was the distinctive silhouette of what looked to be a Comet 4. Surely I could not be so lucky? Well, I was.
The bus pulled up by the aircraft steps and all became clear once we were on board. The Dan Air Captain made his announcement and said we needed to get back to Gatwick quickly for some reason or another. We had managed to get the seats at the front which gave me a good view of the front galley area. No sooner had the flight got to cruising level, out came the Captain and started helping the cabin crew with the meal service boxes. It has always stuck in my mind as showing an organisation where status didn't matter but getting the job done did. If that Captain is still with us, after all these years, can I say "Job well done, Sir!". It remained my only Comet flight so, on that one occasion, perhaps, the Spanish controllers did me a big favour.