My point is that an upgrade interview is not such a bad idea especially with people who never flew anything as PIC (think many regional pilots hired in 2006-2008 with 300-500 hours). It can be used to separate the 'ambitious' from the 'entitled.' Emirates and Etihad do it as well among the scheduled airlines. From what I hear from friends working there, it's a fair process and keeps people sharp and in the books. No golf buddies or anything of the sort helps with process...

As for getting "things interpreted differently", a good friend of mine who's a B-777 captain at Emirates had a disagreement with one of the board members during the upgrade interview. He outlined his thought process, a board member disagreed with the course of action, but didn't outright dismiss it as being too far in the left field, and my buddy passed. Simply know your FOM, know your procedures, be capable of critical thinking, have a clue about good airmanship, and be open to keep learning.