The extent to which BA is being short-sighted continues to astound me. They naively believed promises from a company that they could deliver the same quality of service for less and now that they have made their bed, they need to sleep in it. These are your planes, your crew, your passengers, so it should be your baggage handlers who take care of people's possessions.
Personally, I would not be against raising my flight fare by a few quid knowing that I would get my bags treated well and onto/off the plane promptly. It shouldn't be necessary, but it's better than not having bags at the start of a holiday.