Look, I'm not saying it's going to happen, or it's going to happen at BA. I'm saying that this system opens up the possibility it might happen. And that makes me queasy. My point is that these things can happen. Airlines, so far, are doing a decent job at shielding their maintenance people from pressure in these situations, but there's a risk that they might not and, in an industry where these sort of risks are systematically wrinkled out, it's a worry - to me at least.

The fact is that we've seen before what is the result of being under a lot of pressure (plus other factors). G-EUOE is one example, incidentally not picked up by flight crews either; and other examples I've seen could've ended in engine shut downs and so on, to which flight crews might not be aware.

Canada is about to introduce an EC261-like compensation system, but crucially it's not including mech delays. As I said, my 2p and 2p only.