Mr Purley,
What you don't understand is that things have been rapidly declining over a long time frame.
1- Yeah things go in cycles but this one is particularly deep and negative. Even our illustrious leaders acknowledge that Rosters will continue to be this bad or worse for the next 1.5 years (minimum). The company CANNOT hire and train enough pilots based on their own growth projections and they are also assuming a 'historical' attrition rate, which is simply not going to happen.
2-No other major airline has ''these sorts of issues'' plus...shouldn't ''bigger planes and deeper pockets'' mean that these issues are more serious but also should be more manageable!
3-I agree with your third point except for the fact that the ''fatigue issues/moans'' would not go away for some extra $$$. We are talking about flight safety and health of EK pilots, not just the fact that we work so much harder than any other major airline pilots on the planet.
4- Play what game? You can't sell days off because the Rosters are so tight already and why would someone who is fatigued beyond what should EVER be acceptable for a pilot, attempt to sell his days off? Some pilots might indeed be a tad greedy but we aren't stupid.
5- This airline will NOT 'learn from it all''. Quite the contrary. If EK survives this lengthy and horrible period, our managers and for certain all local management types, will fondly recall these days as the best cost savings period in its history.
You seem to believe that pilots are EK are a bunch of whinging cry-babies, so clearly you have no concept of what has been happening and will continue to happen for quite some time.