HF
To answer but one of your questions:
Why, when BMI bought BMed and promptly sold their LHR slots straight back to BA for exactly what they paid for BMed, did no-one make a fuss - particularly LH?
BMed was bought for £30M by bmi and the slots sold to BA for £32M. £2M profit!
However the slots are tied to bmi for up to two years before they HAVE to be returned.
Not a bad deal for SMB - and it looks as though he has done another one today - exactly a year after BMed was wound up!
HWB