[hlecuanda]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember reading somewhere that this is one of the reasons Airbus aircraft are popular with airlines and pilots: their fky-by-wire common cockpit allows a pilot certified on say the A320 to safely fly an A330 since all instruments, displays, controls and what-nots are exactly the same, only a quick "refresher" certification is required, so pilots get a feel for the aerodynamics and response of the bigger/smaller model they are certifying for..

Why would boeings shuffle around such critical human+machine interfaces?

[rbanffy]

Even if Boeing didn't change anything in the UIs, different models have different features and pilots need to know these differences before the airline can say they can safely fly a given plane.