But from what I understand, these 'rich' saudis are using their wealth and political standing to obtain 'complimentary' tickets.
Granted its filling the front cabin, but at what cost.
MAN-ORD is bmi's single most profitable service (on one flight code with one rotation a day, granted one or 2 LHR destinations may have more profit, but work on multiple rotations per day), with high load factors. To cut it would be senseless, but then again, most of BD's decisions are!