Redflyin
I think you are perhaps being a little naive. Did you think that just by being there and having studied you would get a job offer. They obviously wanted to see how you could handle pressure. They would also want to see what your character was like ie would they be able to sit beside you for 10 hours on a longhaul flight - will you fit in!
You are making a mountain out of a molehill concerning the other candidate over his degree. It is again standard interview technique to see how people react. Will they stand up for themselves or just bend with the wind because that is what they think that the interviewer wants to hear.
Again with your tech answers I am not sure you have it right as the interviewers will not normally say whether you have the question correct or not. If they think you have scant knowledge or are just regurgitating information without an understanding of the subject matter, then expect probing questions to follow. Best advice there for people is to admit they are not sure and stop digging!! Further questions may come to see if the knowledge is there, but in the dim and distant past.
The interviewers fully understand that this can be a life changing / career progression event for most of the candidates and they will give the candidates every opportunity to shine. However, Cathay is not a free lunch and you have to be motivated, capable and more importantly fit in.
I speak from first hand knowledge of the process and interviewing in LA and NYC. There is NO bias, I just think that some candidates do not expect to the kind of interview process that takes place.
