Congratulations on the job Tron, I guess on the 737 and going to Airbus soon you must be in with the big easy and I am sure Oxford have you included in their 108 for this year despite you sorting yourself. Seems strange however how you got bumped for APP guys coming through and you got on and through the CTC scheme, type rated on the 737 only to probably not even finish your line training before doing an airbus course... or maybe you finished at OXford a bit earlier than you are leading on to??? If not then 2 type ratings in 6 months is good going mate - well done you. That said there were rumours about APP students stealing ac when the first APP course was still in groundschool, made me chuckle that one.
Seniority system on the senecas - when I IR'd I was about number 30 and never had the benefits of it at all, got bumped once by someone doing their 170 the following day only to get another ac 5 minutes later. I think a lot depends on your instructor going for a sensible programme... as I say we had no trouble, but then we didn't set out to be airbourne at 8am everyday with the majority.
FOF training - well if you haven't done it you can't comment, but trust me knowledge of the industry did not come from that, but it was a useful 2 weeks.
No I haven't got 20k sitting around for a type rating, never intended to, don't plan on working for anyone who wants me to chuck in that kind of money upfront... and yes I do have a job, mainly through my own contacts but with a bit of help from Oxford so no complaints from me.
BigAir