Not sure there's too much that's ugly or even that bad here, really.
You were probably lucky to get on still - unless told otherwise by BA in the event of delays you're still expected to turn up, check in etc as if the flight was departing on time. A non-status passenger in economy might not have been so lucky and could have risked being a no-show on the hook for a new ticket home, even with the delayed tram as they'd not have shown up in time for the scheduled departure.
I'll agree that boarding by bus is inevitably going to be crap.
In CE you do get to benefit from a good crew, but this is rather less of a consideration in euro traveller now where you only get interaction with the crew if you're buying on board.