This issue of downgrading captains to f/os is a very contentious one. if its based on preservation of seniority in the airline as is practiced in virgin atlantic where there is no direct entry captain recruitment, that is understandable, but a situation like what obtains in vk where guys are interviewed as captains, assesed and passed as captains at gcat, trained at gcat with excellent trainig report and then downgraded to f/o on flimsy excuses, most especially the guys on the 340, could be very damaging to ones career and the pilot community as a whole.