Everyone wants a good pilot to fly their aircraft, but no one wants to pay them for it.
Mate, I for one have repeatedly said that I'm willing to pay for quality at the pointy end. There is a market segment that looks at how much they pay for a product and how much it will cost to replace an inferior product if it's not up to scratch.
How big that segment is? Don't know.
But are they heroes? No, they were doing their jobs. And was the Captain the ONLY one who could have done so? I doubt it.
Exactly right, the remuneration is reward for all the time that chap (and the rest of you) put into knowing that aircraft back to front, the sims and recurrent training etc. You don't get paid for the 364 days of the year that nothing goes wrong, you get paid for that one day. I'm happy to fork out for that one day because one day I or my family may be on that aircraft.
As for the management of the airline, they have proven they are complete morons by declaring war on their employees BEFORE that story went to air. Fools.