If one were to forcibly operationalise the concept of an 'average customer', then I'm pretty sure your suggestion would be wrong: again, the clear majority of BA passengers are, thank goodness for the airline (just in terms of sheer numbers) foreign and not British. Of those, we can assume that 99% would feel alienated by the Daily Mail (the remaining 1% are the potential hardcore masochists we need to account for) and 99% of a clear majority is over 50% so even if 100% of UK fliers were 'closer to the DM' (which is of course not the case) this would still not make a majority.

This being said, I simply don't believe that there is such a thing as an 'average customer' otherwise, BA would be "only" offering WT with chicken pasta, red wine, still water and coffee pre-mixed with sugar and milk or something like that. I think that BA, like any other airline, is by nature trying to attract and please a variety of customers. In this sense, even though the DM is pretty much up there when it comes to my most disliked papers, I have absolutely no problem with the principle of BA offering it; I have, however, a problem with it being the only choice from many outstations and the main choice at others. I think that if BA is going to offer a single choice, then it should choose it as neutrally as possible (as others have said, even if it means Metro). Offering a single polarised choice can only give the image that this is what the airline supports and is not a good idea (I would say exactly the same if that single choice was the Guardian, the Telegraph, both of which I like to read much more than the DM, or whatever else). So if whatever part of BA customers who like the DM can access it which is great, there is simply no reason why those who like the Times, the Guardian, or the Sun can't. The DM may be free to read by passengers, but if offering the DM only makes those who prefer broadsheet less liked by BA, then it may not be entirely free for BA themselves.