OK this has to stop. It's time to be grown up and get some perspective. I don't think for a moment there is substantial truth in the original post of throwing the toys from the pram. However all this talk of BMI Shuttles and BA and BMI being "national carriers" simply shows how little posters know of the airline business.
I genuinely think this thread has gone a little bit mental, in that some people show signs of having a greviance driven agenda.
It's just comedy now to suggest that we're going to have a Northern uprising. Really silly post.
Perhaps MAplc should make a case for a BRU-MAN-ORD service, or a ZRH-MAN-LAS
Incidentally is there a single legacy carrier in Europe who does long haul routing like this? Do the Belgians and the Swiss somehow not mind having to stop on the way but God forbid Mancunians change at Heathrow?