Anton. With all due respect to my BMI colleagues. Flying a narrow body, wheezy A321 to a ****hole in africa or the near east to stay for 48 hours, is NOT longhaul.
I think i'm in 7th heaven on the 767 but even that isn't real "BA" longhaul. Once the BMI guys see what is on offer at BA LH lifestyle-wise you will get flattened in the stampeed to join the LH fleets. And if they don't want longhaul then why all this fuss to join the top of the list?
I really think BMICC are better off negotiating the details around resonable expectations, rather than following a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Lets not forget in the mean time that BMI are pissing 1 million A DAY, down the toilet, so IAG aren't going to sit around negotiatig details for very long. Its in everyones interest that this is solved quickly and reasonably.