Tunedog,
You almost answered your own post.
Believe me the A320 is far from a sophisticated state of the art machine, it is as you allude to over 20 years old.
The problem is twofold, Airbus have had almost 26 years to sort this heap of crap out, and have failed dismally.
And those issues which have been addressed have had their usefullness eroded because the guys with 20 years experience insist on flying it the old way.
As Impulse / QF Link, the 717 operation was subject to LOSA and QF audits, in most areas I understand they came up fairly well.
But now, the blue shirts have taken hold and know better, go figure?
Almost every senior position in the C and t department is filled by ex AN boys club and the troops get a bit tired of it all.
They continually go outside the current cohort of pilots to get the experience they are looking for, what a crock.
Sh**load of experience in international ops inherent in the group already, loads of Boeing time there to.
An interesting question, when AN got a new type, they did not crew from externally to get the experience, so what has changed.
Trained right, pilots can transition to new types comfortably, been happening for years.
Just the GMFO trying to get a warm and fuzzy without spending the dollars on training I guess.
Gunna cost a lot more when one bites the dust.