Frogman, it shows how sad your life is when time to command and money is all that drives you.
Time to command is only important when you want to leave your current carrier, not when you are happy with where you are. Fact is, SAAPA would prefer to have pilots leaving SAA for other airlines, but these days nobody is leaving!! Why?? Because our pay is excellent, our benefits are excellent, we fly with pilots we can relate to and socialise with and most of all, we live in South Africa, a country we love, even with all the crime and other BS.
If you are happy working for Arabs or Chinese then good for you, but I am not. Quality of life is far more important to me than dragging my family off to a desert because of an early command and big bucks. And speaking of big bucks, I just went on holiday with some ex-SAA Emirates Captains and, with your 34% inflation, I don't quite qualify your income as big bucks, as they admitted!!
Fact is, when you take leave you bugger off to a country other than your domicile.............when we take leave we either stay home or visit other parts of the country we live in. So who has the screwed up priorities???
Answer this: Are you going to retire where you currently work or in another country? Because I am already living my retirement here right in good 'ol SA!!!