I am seeing a little frustration in the words of some people in this post.
You don't have to be "the right stuff" to be Captain in any airplane.
And believe me, those two guys with only 1,500 hrs total time were much better many of the old guys with 10,000 hrs.
Morever, one of them after flying two more years as a Captain was designeted as instructor pilot in our company and just before switching to LAN Peru, the Peruvian DGAC was authorizing him as Designee Examiner.
You are sounding like a "the mistery of flying".