The big question now is are you a commander pre.............. or are you a must sought after commander upgrade post 911. The big arrogance now in Europe is command failures to get the demography right!!!!! Absolute !!!!!e. So the industry is in power down. So what. You can shove your direct entry commands and command failures where the sun don't shine. I am very sorry for you in the majors cause you company is not able to keep up with a commercially driven airline industry. But equally you have under International employment law, no right to enter a company ahead of a very well quailified airman on the seniority list and take his promotion away from him/her. The companys in question would learn agreat deal from close observations of some of the current left seat fillers. Sorry for your companys bank balance but this is life get those three stripes out!!!!!!!!!