Congratulations SinBin and onedaysoon... will be seeing you there at some point!
All very good points. I attended the interview at the start of May, having sent off my CV at the end of November. I'm modular, low houred and 737 rated. I can confirm that it's pretty much a personality thing. I did a lot of research on the company - the information's there if you need it: even on their own website!
Sycophant is the wrong word. If you are genuinely interested in flying for the airline then this will come across at interview. If you see it as just another company and don't really care where your first job comes from this will also quickly become apparent. Personally I was so pleased and surprised that bmi offered me an interview that they really became the only airline I wanted to work for!
I have heard a similar thing regarding interview dates: I think some may have missed the boat now. There's a holding pool which new joiners are going into, so I suspect they won't accept CVs now until next year.
Good luck to all who didn't make it, and congratulations to those who did.
Si