Firstly age 65 on the bases only effects the based pilots not the one's in Hong Kong. Last I look the UK base is just about empty and the Australian bases stand at less than 100 pilots (captains).Majority of the pilots are in Hong Kong and as we stand we do not have legislation here for age 60 or 65. So our contract states age 55 and that is the only thing we can say is enforceable.
If they have to pass a law here for age 65 it will take time maybe 1 - 2 years, by which time the major expansion will be just about be done.
Cx knows that the number of pilots due to hang up their wings in the next 2-3 years is huge, so they are desperate to keep most of the senior crews (just think of the reduced training cost), why did you think they went from B scale with no education and limited housing to A scale with no travel allowance.
This is the typical arrogance of CX trying to pull bluff...lets see