The air is the same, but the cabin crew are given a substance that makes them hyper-sensitive to oh-so-deadly cabin fumes. The name of that substance is "union".
It is highly unfair to accuse the cabin crew of a willful action to disrupt a transatlantic flight for hundreds of passengers, especially when there is a high probability that there was an actual medical problem. It's even worse because the cabin crew are not in a position to defend themselves to this (at this point) ridiculous accusation.
Don't forget that the media is also reading on this forum. We don't need The Sun to have a headline which says "CREW ON BA FLIGHT WAS LIKELY FAKING ILLNESS, ACCORDING TO PROFESSIONAL PILOTS".