i flew LHR-HKG last summer,
the F seat were occupied a number of UK-based pilots.

what i then heard was their home base is UK, and they will take the F seats to HKG to start their job. But the trip to HKG also counted as flying hour. is this true?
HK media has senior pilot income at around 150k-250k HKD....including housing/etc.
it has probably came down already.
My view is, we, as passenger, will not be on the pilot's side if our travel plans are disrupted, for whatever reason.

and i tend to agree with terrenz that CX management is partially responsible for the mess they created.