OBNO
Could I ask you to post on behalf of this bloke to show his reasons for taking Cathay over QF?
The guy I referred to has listed a fairly comprehensive and broad-based set of reasons for knocking back a Cathay DEFO job, perhaps you could ask the guy you know who is taking Cathay in preference to Qantas to do the same. It'd be interesting.
And just one more little thing that may be of interest to him. I have heard anecdotally that some New Joiners with a start date in December, (ie. starting under the current CoS99 pay and conditions), are being given a letter saying 'Oh, wait, your course has been deferred until January 2008 - here are the new CoS08 for your reference, complete with reduced pay...'
You may want to give your bloke a 'heads-up' on that one. His future prospects may have dimmed somewhat before he even starts at Cathay if he were to get caught up in that little money-saving scheme.