Kits
Yes I agree except that forcing someone to retire at age 55 is illegal in the UK. It's not the end of a contract - it's retirement from CX. The RA is 65. What you say is correct and, had the AOA shut up about where the aircraft was registered, all UK extendees would have reverted to their original salary, aircraft type, and COS once they had fulfilled certain criteria (ie if ext on freighters they had to do 3 yrs).
Having caused this problem (thread title) the least the AOA can do is to help one of its' Senior members. Yes - I know the AOA was 'only pointing out' etc etc but if they hadn't, the resulting advantage to a lot of people would have been a great start.