Firstly, a little context here .........I make around 70-80 sectors to/from IOM each year, both business and leisure, and last year did so to/from 10 different UK airports, so I do know a little about the market, the operators and the fare structures and opportunities.
Let's deal with your points one at a time.......
I'm a sufficiently frequent flyer on FlyBe routes to have been able to use my points 4 or 5 times. No one who has read the T&C's expects a free flight - it is effectively a discount scheme - the residual charges and taxes are generally around £60 on a return. I understand that, and so do most of the numerous people I know who've also used it. It has enabled me to save between £250 and £300 across those flights, so I'm pretty satisfied. I'd guess there are hundreds of people in IOM collecting these points.
It's very difficult to compare fares absolutely - but I've done enough 'homework' to know that FlyBe's lead in fare to BHX is £59 return and is widely available, (I've got six seats booked at this rate for various dates in April and May) whilst I can't find any Eastern returns for under £150, although I accept your figure of £130 may be out there somewhere.
On the day I'm travelling with Eastern, fully flexible is £350 return with Eastern and £301 with FlyBe, which includes bags, food etc on both. However, FlyBe's schedule is poor - I'm sure they know that - but their fare is fully changeable and refundable. Eastern no longer refund ANY fares at all - that's a good way to encourage customer loyalty.
You chose to ignore my comments on Eastern's pathetic load factors, which are a matter of fact, and look unsustainable. At the end of the day, their's is a different business model to FlyBe, but these numbers and the underlying trend strongly suggest that Eastern's model is failing, as far as IOM is concerned.
I know I'm not going to win this debate with you, as you appear to have a fairly entrenched position regarding Eastern, (I'll let others decide who has the balanced and informed perspective here), but bluster all you like - pax are voting with their feet and £'s........the J41's will more than likely be out of IOM in 12 months. Whether that's a good thing or not is debatable, it just looks like an inescapable fact. But with only 3% of pax overall, it's difficult to believe that most pax would even notice, or that their presence or otherwise would influence FlyBe or Manx2's behaviour and pricing to a significant degree.
Oh......and don't call me 'pal' or I, and I'd guess, others around these parts, might just think of you as a condescending tw&t...........
