Tintin,
The great unwashed dont give a stuff about qualifications, experience or whotnot; price the the basic determinant; Until the proverbilal dark, stormy night, that is! You would be amazed at how many times in Asia I have heard :"We were ****ing bricks but when we heard the Aussie voice on the PA, then we knew we were OK".
With the Cadet scheme etc; REX will have to abandon datal seniority. There is no way that they will be able to train competant Captains to stem the tide to
VB, QF, Jet* and Tiger. DE Captains will be the only option.
More Power to Metro Man for an astute, susinct post.