BA status pax 'throwing it all' for a direct flight.. now theres a first
I think this will indeed be a bit of a stumbling block for the UA flight.
Business travellers from NCL will likely have built up status either in the Executive Club or Flying Blue, or both. Switching their transatlantic flying to another alliance might be a turn off for some, particularly as there's not much Star Alliance presence here to make use of it.
It would really help if we got a ZRH or FRA service.
I haven't used the EK flight for the same reason - I don't want to throw away the miles.
All in all, excellent news though. I hope it's successful and I hope it comes back as a year-round service. The flight timings are very civilised, too (although suspiciously long?!)