I find the assertion that airline staff lie to customers for the airline's benefit or just as a matter of course to be saddening, yet persistent - some other AAirline forums are worse, rife with a constant stream of allegations of deceit and laziness. Why so much vitriol? Assume cock-up over conspiracy, and assume ineffectiveness (here, of information systems) over cock-up.
I mainly wish to say that I am grateful for the many answers from BA staff from several areas of flight and ground operations to this sort of question, and I'm glad they are here and willing to answer questions with real information.