Sorry bout that Una,
Being a MAN thread I responded from a MAN perspective. Given the competativeness of the USA market from MAN, there may be slight adjustments, but, as you say, why hand your competitors the edge?
Given BHX-JFK is a new route, down the road from LHR and MAN, as well as having a lot of focus from EI (and the fact 2 daily flights to the US never seemed to fare well, BHX seem to be good at the 'introductory rate' for airlines but less so at making them stay, and FI now wanting a piece of the US pie too, not to mention the ever looming threat of DY long haul), I feel they are the ones with the most to prove, so will be interesting to see how that pans out.