It is true that the training in EFA is really expensive but if I study there and I don't receive an offer from any Luthansa's Group airline they have to reimburse 50% of the training cost.
That is what I mean. Do you owe the full money even if they place you with one of the other Lufthansa Group Airlines and not Swiss or Lufthansa mainline?
I would agree with what the previous poster said. Swiss mainline or Lufthansa mainline are both good companies to work for IF you manage to get into one of them.
I might be wrong but as far as I understand you do not get any specific Airline guarantee anymore that will be offered to you. At least that is what I hear, and what you wrote above confirms this.
If you read this:
https://www.aero.de/news-45428/Pilot...naeherung.html you will see that Lufthansa management is threatening to make a new lower cost airline which then makes feeder traffic into MUC. That would mean Lufhansa mainline is not doing this feeder traffic, making your chance slimmer to get into Lufthansa mainline. So can EFA offer you this new airline, where it is unclear what your conditions would be, and you still owe the full money?
And another thing: would you owe the money if they offered you only a time limited contract (Zeitvertrag)?
May be it is different with Swiss since it is partially (and that is important: only partially) funded by the Swiss educational system.
Read carefully what the contract says, not what Swiss or Lufthansa advertise as their "intention".
Personally I would not want to pay the huge training cost if my debt is not linked to Swiss or Lufthansa mainline giving me a job. Because then I would take a much cheaper training route and keep money to spare for a typerating.
But about your question: Choose where you would want to live: FRA or MUC (=Lufthansa) or rather ZRH (=Swiss). Where would you feel home more. Beware: if you end up in Eurowings Malta, you will be based in PMI, or PRG, or some place in Scandiland - these are their bases apparently right now.
About the EFA contract: just read the fine print, and not only what happens when things go smooth.
You don't want to get stuck into a training organisation that locks you in and then only finishes your training after 4 years (I am just giving an example, not saying this is the case). Normally training to a frozen ATPL (CPL + ATPL theory) takes a bit less then 24 months.
Above link about what apparently is currently happening at United flight academy would ring some alarm bells with me, since EFA is also using this place as a place of training according to EFAs website. What happens with your debt if EFA stops training you for 9 months due to lack of training capacity (or training just takes much longer since the training schedule is thinned out)? Can you bail out, and take your money and accumulated hours elsewhere to finish training? What are EFAs obligations with regard to training schedule?
May be via
www.pilotenboard.de you can get into contact with some guys currently training at EFA. There you would get a good a picture, since I can only relate hearsay and some online publications. And did I mention it already?
Read the fine print, about what happens when things do not go as advertised.