N Joe,
I have been on a couple of BoI's and I am slightly bemused by your comments also. Are you actually saying that, in your opion and experience, an individual can make a decision of an aircraft damage cat based purely on 'one individual's opinion with only passing regard to the actual extent of the damage' ??
In my experience, the issue has been about getting together a bunch of experts to inspect, determine and try to put a value on the amount of damage the aircraft has sustained. I would agree perhaps, that station resources and £££ may have a very slight effect on the final outcome, but I can't agree about the 'passing regard' bit.
The winco