G'day Haugteny. When are we talking about here? When did your fellow crew member leave QLink? We haven't employed since January 2009 so it's hard to say that mainline flight ops have something against the Link crew.
Perhaps they were still avoiding hiring Link crew in the 2000's (although I seem to fly with quite a few ex Link crew) but the rumoured attitude proffered by Di Vosh regarding the transition of prop drivers to jets isn't something that was prevalent in 2007.
In terms of our hiring practises, that's the change I'm talking about now. New management, new attitude. It's not perfect but it's a truck load better than it used to be.