Munnyspinner
"Unless you can get a hold on these problems really early it can become a downward spiral. Staff cannot find alternative employment on similar T&C and become increasingly reluctant to compromise on the " I' m alright Jack" principle and rely on militant TU support to defend a renegotaition of T&C."
Nicely summed up, but you still need to be sure of the other operators figures for a similar trip/secor to get the true differential...........and as far as I recall it our 744s on the Far East trips carry more than 291 pax..so the differential may not be as big as you claim - nevertheless the underlying principle still remains.