“I don't really see how FOs are being bypassed. Recent NaC course participants have approx 4 years 9 months in the company.”
Well for starters, it is not 21 DECs = 21 FOs not upgraded, it is more like 100+. But we all know that the number and the consequence is fleet specific – the B777 DEC only delay the Boeing, the A330 DEC delay everyone on both Airbus fleets.
The recruitment of B777 DECs occurred when upgrade courses were effectively on hold. Almost nobody was upgraded for 9 months last year and we all sat around wondering when it would start again. People got so tired with the company and they started leaving, so the replacement training cost was horrendous. We burned out the trainers because for every TRE that resigned we needed to upgrade a replacement TRI, and for every TRI upgrade a line captain, and for every line captain train a DEC (company decision) or delay a FO, and for every FO that resigned beg the recruiters to find a replacement FO who didn’t mind filling the ranks for 4yrs and 9months before upgrade. So people were inadvertently delayed or bypassed when DEC were recruited, inducted and trained.
The Airbus guys had it even worse because they had the smaller fleet. The portal shows some of the early A330 DECs have already moved to the A380, the remaining A330 DECs have been assigned A380 courses by end of 2016. There is no short fall in FO recruitment on the A380 but the guys who transition do not have the OM-A command requirements - some of these guys have less than 300hrs and 6 months on the line at EK and they are becoming A380 skippers. @The Crew might argue that this is nothing more than A380 DEC recruitment by stealth, but clearly any FO who was in the company for the last 4yrs 9 months and who has greater than 300hrs of combined Airbus time has had the effect of being bypassed.
We all know that the two course argument is not valid, because DECs do a full type course and then they do a full NaC upgrade course. The DEC training cost and timeline causes delays to others in the pipeline.
AFAIK there is no bypass policy at EK or compensation paid to those effected.