Not sure being more assertive has relevance. I think the jist of the comments so far is that the on-board welcomes are more sporadic these days. Certainly that is my experience too. I agree that F check-in at T5 is generally a poor experience - there have been occasions when the staff haven't even looked at me. As with most things there are some good 'uns and some bad 'uns. But in general I do think that BA need to ensure staff at the F check-in desks are delivering the first part of the FIRST experience in an appropriate manner.

I'd be interested to know what sort of requests the lounge staff refused?