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I don't mean it is unusual to ask "как дела", quite opposite, it is usual, but only if you expect to receive some form of a logical answer, however formal it would be.

Yes, the only time I heard it was used like a formal British "how do you do" it was in a speech of 2 Caucasians, for both of whom Russian was not a native language.
- Привет, КАКДИЛА..
- КАКДИЛА......