I guess what it comes down to is this.
Don’t ever work for a subsidiary or regional arm of the Company which is your ultimate goal.
If your ultimate goal is Virgin, don’t work for VARA or Tiger.
If your ultimate goal is mainline, don’t work for Cobham, QLink on the Dash or Jetstar. People are getting trapped.
Last question... if you can actually afford it or have a backup plan, what about resigning? If you resign - does that remove the restriction so you can go straight into the job you’re “on hold” for? I expect very few people would be in a family or financial position to be able to do that.