Well John again the above is my opinion and nothing more, however, that opinion has been influenced by crashes directly attributed to pilot inexperience. Yes, it's true that today's airlines in Europe have a great safety record, however, it's important to note that many incidents and accidents that HAVE happened to them can also be attributed to pilot inexperience.
Also, I'm absolutely NOT complaining that others had it easier than me: I think it's a dang shame they, too, never paid their dues and lack that part of experience.
Regarding your comment towards passengers not caring about experience...well, I beg to differ, at least in the US. Regardless of their attitudes, though, we owe it to the pax to be always striving to place experienced pilots in cockpits, not 250hr neophytes.
And despite one of the AF447 FOs being a glider/GA pilot, ok so what? What was his prior experience before AF? He still didn't recognize/recover from a stall? Pretty sure he was a cadet too.