Lord Bracken, to answer your point. If there was such a sea change away from premium travel BA would:
1. Cancel the new First Class enhancements
2. Ground OpenSkies
3. Shelve the new LCY/JFK service.
1) BA need to think of the long term. Read flyertalk to see just how anticipated new FIRST is - have you flown SIA / CX perhaps and seen how good their service is in comparison. It far, far exceeds BA now.
2) I doubt there would be much value in doing so - the costs have already been expended to acquire slots, L'Avion, crew and marketing. Greater costs exist in IT distribution that could be eliminated by implementing Amadeus' new products instead, or indeed eliminating the complexity of the cabin crew contracts.
3) As I said before, it is funded by Barclays Captial - no cost to BA...