AQHI656
I think the clue is in the first line of your post. "The party line"
Since when has a party line actually involved the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?. If it ever did then there would be no requirement for a "party line", would there ?
In the big scheme of things (Defence Budgets and spending) the amount of money saved by these new interpretations of old rules really is insignificant. The real life cost of training new aircrew will far outweight any perceived saving.
The question is even more simple than people are making out.
Q. Why are the rules concerning flying pay different for qualified pilots doing the same job under the same Command for the same Queen.
A. ( DAAvn staff to insert implausible long winded answer here)