Doh!!
Warning, Caution, and Advisory!
Excellent post, Pixy.
I would say this, though. EK have certainly been punitive in situations where they feel crews have made errors that have affected safety, and more than once stupidly and counter-productively so.
This has no doubt built a climate of fear among the Pilots and the thought of "will I get a bollocking/demoted/fired" DOES weigh heavily in any non-normal situation.
This is a bad state of affairs for reasons you point out so eloquently.
I am not aware, however, of anyone actualy having any punitive action taken against them for managing a non-normal to a safe outcome, even if it has not been the optimal commercial decision.
Sure there are debriefs- that's what any airline does to learn lessons- and no doubt at least one of our DCPs demeanor would make that unpleasant.
But in cases like this, I honestly don't think the guys would have faced any form of discipline had they returned-It's one option they are trained to consider.
They assesed it was safe to continue and the outcome was good.