Tough, but fair.. .. .RTO, think about it. Are you (a) advancing or (b) retarding the chances of airline pilots generally? Are pilots who do this (a) an asset or (b) a liability to flight safety?. .. .Low-budget employers either get pilots with a little experience, whom they have to pay living wages, or they get numpties with no experience and no assets worth a damn except a bit of paper, and they get money in the bank.. .. .Lack of regulation is killing the employment market. And with just a little less luck than hitherto, they will kill the punters as well.. .. .A used to work for a Flight Ops Director who had a pilot (just out of 509, ink hardly dry on a frozen ATPL) tell him he'd work for nothing, just to get the experience. Sent him away with a flea in his ear, telling him never, EVER to try pulling that stunt again. And good for him.. .. .The sort of company that would pull this stunt should be illegal. Not only for trying to get round actually paying their staff, but for trying to find ways to get cheaper, less-qualified staff than they ought to be employing.. .. .RTO, so you are finding it tough. I sympathise. No, really I do. I found it tough when I was starting out. Now, with 4,000 hours under my belt, including a significant amount of command time, I am still finding it tough. So what? How do you think I and the MANY like me, many much more experienced, like it when we see kids willing to fly for free?. .. .What about the two captains who used to fly for the same company as me, married to each other with a baby then about to be born, both made redundant - god knows how many hours in command and hours of training experience between them, both made redundant when the bank pulled the plug? You think you deserve a job before them? You think that encouraging the less scrupulous companies in their dangerous practices provides progress for our profession, for the industry?