Ozzy,
I fully understand how Euston & King Cross are laid out, I use them every day. We are not here to argue about the Channel Tunnel or Eurostar. The point I was trying to make was that the Channel Tunnel was built as a nationally important project not just for the area around it's location. Just because people need to change trains does not alter that fact that it is used by road/rail trafic from all over the UK every day.
It is interesting however that you then go on to talk about the inconvenience of rail travel when needing to change stations. You will find that this is what much of the north needs to do in order to access the LH flights at the likes of MAN.
But since you're clearly happy with enroute chages of this sort, presumably that means it is similarly fine for Londoners to change planes at Dubai, Bejing or Doha when they need to reach a secondary destination.
Well a direct route is preferable and the place you are more likely to get that is LHR but I presume you meant people coming from the regionals rather than Londoners. In that case I absolutely agree with you, changing terminals via a RTS without the need to worry about baggage that is already check at the regional point of departure is much better than lugging case up/down escalators to get to somewhere like MAN on the 2 or 3 trains yes. I do believe you are beginning to get it.
Meanwhile, you appear to reject forecasts which indicate future loss of direct flights from regional airports as implausible. Yet you're fine quoting numbers such as "£187Bn in benefits" attributable to R3 projected over sixty years. Do you not see the irony? Is it just long-term forecasts which don't suit your preferred conclusion that you object to?
Actually if you read back then I have stated that if only half that figure is correct then it is still a major benefit. There has also been much written about potential benefits and analysis done not just by HAL but regional business and airports themselves. I also believe business don't usually ask for something that will not improve their bottom line.
Having been a local resident to and regular user of LBA I just do not see where that figure of 4449 flights lost comes from and merely asked for more info. It is such a specific number there must somewhere be a list of affected flights.