My point is that Boeing is not the first to make a “stupid design decision”, so why are THEY being villified? If you read http://ca.news.yahoo.com/ap-exclusive-rule-exemption-means-batteries-led-dreamliner-053758589—finance.html you might wonder why the batteries are still flying and Boeing is grounded. Please enlighten me on how this makes any sense?
I am in no position to offer a full explanation to that question. One possible answer would be that different applications of the same basic technology (the batteries) lead to different outcomes. It works in one case and fails in the other. But perhaps Airbus will fall down that same set of stairs next week...or next month...
In any case, I do not think wild conspiracy theories need to be brought forth. Boeing SNAFU'ed on this, and whether the competition did better or just lucked out so far doesn't change that.
Take automotive companies' recalls for example. While some orders of magnitude less in impact, one company may have to make a recall on, say, power steering failures, while other companies have no issues with the same basic technology.