They can take the tray tables out of any plane in about 3 minutes. This has nothing to do with NEO arrangements. Why do people see conspiracies everywhere?
This was an exceptional situation, BA chose to prioritise ALL their customers, not just those at the front, and this is to their credit. If there are some selfish narcissists who resent losing a small benefit so that someone else can get home, then they are the ones to be pitied and criticised, not BA.
You can't anticipate every occurrence of weather events. Generally where there is a high chance of disruption - snow for example - BA are proactive on cancellations and plan around them (and get complained at for doing this). This week was unusual and compounded by technical issues for ATC. These things happen, other airlines were equally affected. So honestly, roll with it.