Not necessarily true, Kaha.
I was around united's era in the early 80s and left BA to join CX. Best move I ever did. Lost 9 years of seniority in BA and got a 747 command after 8 years of seriously fun and professionaly challenging FO flying at CX. e.g. at BA you had to be a Captain to do the IGS approach, in CX you did them as a junior FO from day one.
Elite may be the wrong word I agree, but it was one of the best gigs on the planet for a single 30 year old pilot.
Since then it has been dragged down by management incompetence and venality. I would not leave Ryanair for CX now...