Re: Never happen here
"Don't I remember something about BA spying on Virgin's bookings in the same way"
As it happens, I recently read Richard Branson's autobiography and this matter is covered. It details that specific, appalling piece of behaviour by Lord King and BA and a rather long list of other serious breaches of trust and abuses by LK and the BA staff who enthusiastically tried to bury RB personally and Virgin Atlantic specifically. No mention was made of any specific outcome of the data snooping.
However, the appalling and consistent, libellous statements by BA and LK in particular were punished to the tune of GBP 500,000 for RB and GBP 110,000 for VA. BA settled out of court with what amounted to a full confession. They did so because they were guilty as sin with sub-zero possibility of a favourable outcome, and they knew that a court case would expose them as the slimy bastards that they provavbly are. In the airline industry BA is, and will forever be, known for what they were revealed to be in the VA/RB case (and Laker Airways before, and all the other airlines that were crushed by BAs systematic abuses).
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/11/newsid_2520000/2520189.stm
"Sir Freddie sued British Airways, BCal, Pan Am, TWA, Lufthansa, Air France, Swissair, KLM, SAS, Sabena, Alitalia and UTA for conspiracy to put his airline out of business by predatory pricing. They settled out of court for US$50m, which let Laker Airways pay its debts. British Airways reached a separate out-of-court agreement with Sir Freddie personally for £8m" -- Wiki.
Of the million miles I have flown in the past decade, zero have been on BA. I cannot see that number increasing anytime soon.
Anon, because BA (unfortunately) is a client.