Payment
Hi Lizz,
I should like to add emphasis to the point already made by airpolice.
All flying clubs/training organisations operate on a wafer-thin profit margin and operating costs are high. As a result, there is a dismal but more or less constant trickle of places going bust. The trouble is that this usually happens without any warning. A place that perhaps seemed to be doing OK yesterday is gone by tomorrow.
Cash flow is almost always a nagging worry to them and one of the ways they try to keep money in the kitty, especially when they are beginning to fail, is by offering package discount deals for the PPL or NPPL (as the case may be). As a result, just too many student pilots have seen their club/FTO go bust overnight with several thousand pounds of their hard earned cash, which usually they never see again.
So perhaps the most important lesson you can learn from us for the moment is; NEVER, NEVER, NEVER PAY UP FRONT FOR A COURSE OF FLYING, and ALWAYS PAY WITH A CREDIT CARD.
Good luck Kid,
BroomstickPilot.