Towing happy birthday wont make you a better pilot but asking for 1500 hours will stop the pilot puppy factories turning out young fresh CPL holders who will do almost anything for a job. They have a 100k pound debt so paying it is priority.
I have been in the US for a while now and Capts tell me about when 250 hours would get you in a regional jet. Usually they had many more applicants than jobs so picking the cream was easy. Pay for training then look forward to getting net 1600 dollars a month. All because you needed airline time to apply to American/United/ Delta. The system stank and needed changing. The Euro system isnt much better at the moment.