Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave

Ah, but would you pay CX or DA fares as well? To give an illustration, not that there are many parallels between HKG and LGW, let's look at the HKG to TPE route, the one with the greatest competition, 500 miles, You will struggle to get a business class fare on CX for less than £800 return! Low cost carriers compete heavily on that route, so you can fly for £100 easily. But not in business class on Cathay.

Then take LGW-GVA, again considerable competition on that route, just under 500 miles, also easily can be flown for well under £100 return, but only one airline offers Business class and that's BA. Cheapest BA business class return, even with cabin monopoly, is £219.