yes a few people get chopped on line training - but those muppets are few and far between.
as far as astraeus is concerned if you're going to chuck money at them I think they willing let you pay to operate on they're aircraft, asthats how they make most of the cash !
as you said about finishing your sim to a high standard - its all relative, i've seen some of the guys who pay for line training at said company and a chimp could do as well