During harsh economic times, when jobs are at risk, it's understandable that pilots are going to kick in and assist by making operations more economical. The best way for long-haul pilots to do that is to fly right up there in coffin corner despite their heavy weights, i.e. where the margin between the aerodynamic stall and mach buffet is minimal (or even negligible). That gives best engine and airframe fuel economy (air nautical miles per pound) however it's also an exercise in stroking the razor's edge. Do that above the 55,000 foot tops of the ITCZ (Inter-Tropic Convergence Zone) and your environment-related controllability hazards become very real. Even at night, you can fly around the intense cells visually (or by radar) dodging the CB tops; however it's also possible to strike Clear Air Turbulence associated with the ITCZ..... or to stumble into a CB thunderhead that you didn't see ahead (courtesy of its electrical activity and sheet lightning flashes).
If that happens, what's next? Well...in fact you don't even need to bumble into a thunderstorm's tops in order to come unstuck. All you need is some turbulence or a sudden unexpected air temperature change (affecting both airspeed and thrust output) - or an engine surge. Quite simply it becomes a sudden loss of control on a dark night..... and only a few thousand feet below you are the solid unfriendly cloud tops of the ITCZ's solid thunderstorm activity. Once inside that maelstrom of cloud below, with its severe turbulence, hail, lightning and electrical activity, a successful recovery from an unusual attitude would be unlikely. At this point you must recall that a FBW Airbus is limited in its manoeuvrability by its control laws. That feature is designed to stop pilots creating situations - however equally it can limit their ability to recover from out-of-control "unusual attitudes" (e.g. inverted or spinning). Control Laws cannot stop cataclysmic overstress however.
A non-Airbus airliner may be able to recover from an upset that an Airbus cannot (due to the limits of its control laws).