All CXF commands get offered to CX F/O's first: If the F/O is qualified and has at least two years to a command on the pax fleet, has the hours and is assessed to be suitable, the slot is his/hers. An inability to fill the slot from the pax fleet means the slot reverts to CXF F/O's.
A CXF Captain earns less in straight pay than a "B" scale F/O on the pax fleet and every CXF slot is on a basing, with no housing, travel or education allowances. In fact an F/O in HKG earns a lot more in gross and net income than a CXF Captain and pays 15% tax vs. the 53% in Canada and the 40%+ in the USA.
Right now every CXF pilot in Australia is crying to get back to HKG (or out of OZ) because of a change in the tax laws, and the company is holding them to the letter of their contracts (if only they had the same respect for contractual agreements from their side...)
2 1/2 years to command from DOJ? A very big maybe, and then only if it was the CXF command in Ouagadougou that no-one else wanted...Command at any price? Not in my book.