Dear Liam, I doubt you wonder all that much as I am quite sure you know exactly what the issue is. This used to be a career airline, it ceased to be such around 1993/94 when B scales/ASL appeared. Unfortunately it takes rather a long time for the message to get through to everyone. Some still have vain hopes that they work for a career airline, get real guys we work for a third world outfit that will hire at the cheapest rates they can get away with. How do they get away with it? Because they can! Imagine UA/AA/BA/LH/DL/NW/AF etc trying to recruit in KUL or DEL or CMB or BOM or BAH or DXB (dare I say AUS?) etc. Of course they cannot because they are first world carriers based in countries with labour and immigration laws. Hong Kong protects business interests and that is all. There is nothing we can do about this new development. Live with it or leave for a job somewhere else where you don't neeed to worry about your job being sold to the lowest bidder. If the CEO can fire a Captain on the spot for being unwise in the company bar what hope is there for the rest of us. I give up!