Some British Airways staff who have accepted voluntary redundancy say they had felt "forced" into it.
BA wants to cut 12,000 job roles and says 6,000 staff have volunteered.
Carol - not her real name - said BA had told her if she did not accept the offer of voluntary redundancy she would have to apply for a job and if she did not get it she would only receive a statutory redundancy payout.
She says the airline's conduct was "a slap in the face".
Carol, who had worked for BA for 23 years, told the BBC: "They [BA] said 'If you don't take the offer, you'll go into the fire-and-rehire phase', but if we aren't hired, we'll get only statutory redundancy."
Those BA cabin crew who did reapply for their jobs on a new contract are expected to find out later on Friday whether or not they lose their jobs.
Carol, who worked on the long-haul fleet, said it was a foregone conclusion that the airline would not re-hire older cabin crew members.
"Even before I had accepted the voluntary redundancy offer, I had a message on my roster from BA: 'Thank you for your service. Good luck'. That is all I got from them after 23 years.
"It's a slap in the face, but it shows they knew who they were getting rid of," she said. She says she will be forced to sell her home since her redundancy payment won't cover her mortgage.
"It's actually age discrimination, we were forced out."
Erica - again, not her real name - had been with British Airways long enough to remember being cabin crew on a Concorde jet, but accepted voluntary redundancy after seeing the brand airline turn into a "toxic work environment".
"The way they dealt with this was so underhand," she said.
"Yes coronavirus has had a terrible impact on the industry, but these are permanent pay cuts to what is a temporary problem. But this is a restructure that BA has wanted for a long time".
Most of those who are offered a new contract will suffer steep pay cuts, changes to their terms and conditions, and reduced allowances which top up their base salaries.
Other workers such as engineers, ground crew and office staff are also expected to hear whether they have a future at the airline over the coming days.
British Airways says more than 6,000 staff across the business have applied for voluntary redundancy and "refutes claims that our colleagues were pressured".
The airline has begun culling employee positions as part of a major cost-cutting drive, which it insists is vital to ensure its long-term survival.
But the way in which it has done so has provoked deep resentment among a large proportion of its workforce - and threats of industrial action.
'Absolutely gutted'
"I'm looking at losing 50% of my take-home pay," says Vicky - a cabin crew member who works in BA's long-haul fleet.
"I'm a single mother. I can't afford to have half of my pay taken away from
Although she lives in the north east, she was among hundreds of staff who travelled to BA's headquarters near Heathrow earlier this week, to vent their anger at the company's management.
"It's the most stressful time I've ever been through," she says. "I feel absolutely gutted."
me".
Vicky - not her real name - is in her mid-thirties. She has been with the company for more than 15 years.
British Airways, like other airlines, has suffered deeply from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. In the three months to the end of June it lost more than £700m.
For weeks, at the height of the lockdown, the bulk of its fleet was grounded, and it was unable to operate more than a handful of planes each day.
The company does not expect the aviation industry to recover fully until at least 2023.
