I believe that what triggered the airlines to shut down the MHD was not a few VFF's working out MHDs here on FT, it was the threat of the story appearing in the mainstream media (so far it's pretty much been a business-travel column and a short item, as Ken described).

The airlines involved might be willing to put up with us doing it, since they must have had a valid business reason for offering those connecting cities in the first place, but the idea of the great non-travelling public phoning up and asking for "an MHD to Cancun" would be too much for them.

I don't think it's so much the airlines monitoring FT that is the problem, I think it's more the mainstream media that causes the shutdown.

andrew