Thanks for that, also you mentioned about FR bussing people into Coventry, I can remember being the sole customer from Birmingham on that bus! It did pick people up at Coventry rail station.....it was all because they'd fallen foul with BHX. A similar row errupted at LTN with an aircraft full of PAX grounded untill they paid up! Memories!
On the point of aer aranns reliability etc I would totally agree with you that it shouldnt be held against them but I would reckon they would use that to help justify giving the route over to flybe. It does look like EIR wont be appearing on the route as mentioned earlier.
Cheers