Before I left the UK to work in the US in 2005 I found that using BA direct from MAN covered most of my European business and Lufthansa/SAS/Finnair did the rest so there was absolutely no reason to travel via the appalling LHR. On my return in 2010 I found that Wee Willie Walsh had removed all BA flights from MAN and other regions. He even removed the direct flight from MAN to MAD which is the hub for his new friends at Iberia. The last non-LHR connection to BA long haul (to LGW) went in 2012 taking with it the only chance I had of using zillions of Avios on BA metal.