Thanks both for your reply. Yes freighter commands were offered to anyone who would take them but at a much reduced payscale, so I am basically bieng undercut by junior crew who are not prepared to wait their turn. Welcome to the real world I hear you say. Well if we are all prepared to outbid each other then where will it end. Already at CX, once a premium airline which was tough to get in, they are now recruiting in third world countries (no disrespect) where they are prepared to accept a much lower CoS.
Regarding your view that who cares about the rank show me the money,I disagree. Most pilots aspire to sit in the left. Its the cullmination of all we have been working towards, and I know very few professions which have the same magical touch at the top. Call it ego, a very rewarding job, but it is a very special feeling to be in charge of a planeload of people and operate in some challenging circumstances.
I am just worried at the degradation of our profession at a highly rapid rate, to which we have very much ourselves to blame. You have to agree that an airline pilot is not a top job anymore and I think the more we try to act as individuals and try to get as much, quickly before we turn off the lights is pretty short sighted. Would you pass this job on to your children, I used to think so.