Wow, some pretty strong opinions here....
Well, here is my humble opinion for what its worth. I hold / have held both JAA and FAA licences. I have had the pleasure of flying with some fine aviators from both sides of the fence (if there is one) and have to say that a lot of what you see is a result of the individual's personal application and abilities, no matter what licence they hold. In addition, there is a great deal of ignorance and misunderstanding regarding the 'system' of training pilots and end product. IB57 alluded to the fact that the airlines in the US carry a lot of resposibility for training certain criteria to their 'new hires', whereas in Europe and other places it is different, not better, but different.
After 25++ years of flying jets, I can still safely say that the best pilot I have ever operated with was an ex US Navy pilot with guess what, yes an FAA licence!
Regarding GF policy I too can only go on heresay, however the word on the street is that they will, and have, accepted FAA ATPs with a type rating. I believe the BCAA has quite a few FAA licenced pilots on their books flying for the DHL operator (Dilmun I think it's called).
Blue side up!