I never bother to give trainees more than 20 knots crosswind because it is easy enough for the instructor to observe correct technique at that value, regardless of what the sim thinks.
True statement indeed. However there is a psychological aspect to be considered. It is not uncommon to fly with a pilot who is quite apprehensive when faced with a significant crosswind landing. Indeed I know of one case recently where the captain offered his first officer the "leg" into a capital city airport where the forecast at the flight planning stage indicated the probability of a 15 knot crosswind. The F/O had 1000 hours on type. The F/O declined to take up the captain's offer.
The captain detected the F/O was worried and insisted the F/O operate the leg and added he would take over if the crosswind was beyond the capability of the F/O. On long final for the landing runway the ATIS indicated a 15 to 20 knot crosswind as forecast. The F/O became increasingly agitated and it reached the situation where the captain took over and landed. During later talk over a beer, the F/O admitted he had lost confidence in his ability to handle crosswinds correctly. Moreover his captains were always happy to conduct the landings themselves thereby relieving him of the possibility of making a fool of himself trying to land without drift. He did not seek extra simulator training at strong crosswind landings because he was concerned it would go on his records. This fear had festered for years.
Some pilots need to build up their confidence and the simulator can work miracles if the instructor is understanding and patient. All in takes is about ten strong 35 knot crosswind landings in the simulator and these can be done by starting from a short two mile visual final which gives the candidate practice at tracking the centre line rather than the usual curve of pursuit. Ideally manually flown without autothrottle and flight director.
Once the candidate can perform the approach and landing in a 35 knot consistently well in the simulator his confidence will soon return and he should take this new found confidence into the real world of crosswind landings on the line. Been there-done that. Until that remedial simulator training is provided a nervous pilot will sweat out every crosswind landing on line. So will his hapless passengers and the airline reputation on social media...