VJW:
Sounds very harsh, to let a DEP come in and take a job they might like for this. Timing is everything it seems.
It does sound harsh. In an ideal (BA pilot's
) world the 744 vacanices would have been filled by internal movement, probably by unfreezing bidders off the Airbus. However that means BA converting the Airbus pilot onto the 744 and training up the DEP onto the Airbus, i.e. 2 conversion courses. As I understand that would overstretch the training system, therefore the decision to do some recruiting direct onto the 744.
Bottom line is both Fil and Wibelsturm are spot on, senority in the company, aka Date of Joining counts for almost everything ( though I suspect some would like it otherwise
).