'Although he has a number of flights booked with BA over the next 12 months, Mr Lawson says he will start using other carriers...'

And there is the nub of the matter. BA has such a dominant position in the UK - a massive hold on LHR, a route network that dwarfs their next biggest UK competitor VS, including a huge European and domestic feeder network, and probably the best frequent flyer programme out there.

We can huff and we can puff (including myself sometimes), but at the end of the day for UK-based customers it is quite a sacrifice to actually take their business elsewhere - as even the deeply dissatisfied Mr Lawson recognises.