41 Eye A,
Your response misses the point. The purpose of the ban is to put pressure on managment, but does so soley by asking for a sacrifice from people wanting to join Cathay. To have any credibility, the existing Cathay pilots needed to show a willingness to make at least an equal sacrifice. Following your logic, shouldn't one ask "How many new intakes were Cathay going to take", and then allow all but 49 of them? A ridiculous thought obviously! Therefore, the only strategy that might have worked would have been a comprehensive ban of ALL promotion as well as ALL intake.