In practice, what can one really do about this? I assume calling up the Gold Line in advance won't help. The best you can do, I guess, is ask whether a cot has been loaded BEFORE the doors close...(not that this will necessarily help, but at least you're not 100% done for as you are if you only find out after take-off that the answer is no...).
It's a big worry - I don't get how a ticket clearly booked for a lap infant into a bassinet seat would not ALWAYS have a cot loaded as a matter of course. I have paid for two ADULTS to sit in Club World, and I have also PAID (albeit only 10%, though on a Club World ticket even that may be several hundred pounds...) for an infant to travel with us. Is a cot really too much to expect as a normal part of the service? It's a totally different proposition if I have to have a baby sleep on me the whole night (let alone the fact that's not actually recommended safe sleeping from a cot death point of view...).
Worried about our trip to MRU on this front. If they haven't loaded a cot for that 12 hour night flight it's going to be a pretty poor start to the holiday and a very angry Mrs R...