And it pretty well makes my point for me, if 1201alarm has done all these things by his or her mid thirties, and mastered all the challenges a short haul airline can offer what is she or he going to do for the next thirty years apart from more of the same, either in the aircraft or in the back of the sim. Eventually it reaches a point where the major challenge of the day (depending on which airline you fly for) is finding the controls and screen for the flight deck door camera.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy European ops with the airline I fly for, which may or may not be connected with this thread, but I’m glad that my (so far) 40 years of flying started with something different. But for the benefit of 1201alarm I would point out that I stated that it was a personal opinion, and not meant to be judgemental of anyone who finds themselves in the situation I described. The world has changed since I started, there is less chance of military training in the U.K., expat job opportunities in GA are fewer than they were, and the self improver route has pretty well died in the U.K.
Anyway that all went a bit of topic, I believe that jet2 is a good place to work, good luck to all in the recruitment process…