Originally Posted by mhpkev
With respect to the LHR slot limit for AA, what exactly prevents them from moving one of the MIA-LHR to DFW, and a DFW-LGW to MIA?
The only US cities that are allowed to see non-stop service to Heathrow are:
1) Cities that had non-stop service to London in 1977 - Boston, Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington.
2) Co-terminals of those cities, including Baltimore, Fort Lauderdale, Newark, and Oakland.
3) Anchorage, Alaska and Minneapolis, Minnesota, though only by a British airline.
4) Cities that are served on a US-London route by only one British carrier that carriers a significant amount of traffic over the period of three years, in which then the British airline can transfer the service to Heathrow. However, if a second airline enters the market, then the service must be returned to Gatwick.
However, this only applies to US and UK airlines. A third-country airline can indepdently negotiate for US-LHR rights to any US city, including those that are not bound by Bermuda II (for example, Air India can fly DFW-LHR).