The only direction this will go is backwards. This has been covered before. When I joined a good few years ago, the company stopped Transition Upgrades as a few of the candidates were failing their upgrade courses.
I myself had quite a few Airbus guys jump ahead of me by anything up to six months. Personally it meant that I didnt have to go near the 54,000 Stella Artois cans welded together masquerading under the name of Airbus.
To The 12 good and true guys going for the law suit, all I can say is good luck. I think the chances of winning are less than zero. The company only recently lifted the ban on transition upgrades. Hey and guess what, when the A380 arrives it will be the Boeing guys who wont get a look in. But then who really wants to fly the A380 when you already fly a Boeing???????????