Hello all
With regard to the argument about old or new, well, the reality is that new aircraft can and do go u/s just as fast as the old ones. Airbuses are probably no better than Boeings on that one. Any pilot who has ever conducted an acceptance test flight will be well aware of how the factory can put pressure on the customer to accept the aircraft "without faults". As for routine line flying, there are two kinds of pilots, those who will go with snags( for fixing later) and those who won't. The engineers know how far to go, when asking a pilot to "carry" a snag. Every engineer knows which aircraft in the fleet are the "snaggy" ones.
As for the erosion of T and Cs, it starts at the top when the senior pilots allows it to begin. The old sweats in FR should have stopped the rot but didn't. Giving the new guys a hard time about buying their way in and accepting lesser contract standards is partly justified but the aim should also be directed at their forebears.
regards
TDD