plug and play staff
typhoonpilot,
You use strong words! I think the term "whore themselves out" is quite inappropriate. I can see your frustrations though!
It's not fair for me to comment about what your financial situation may be suffice to say that funding your own type rating is extremely expensive (turbojet). You [we] do face a problem here though which is competition. Now, if like you say, pilots were able to club together and boycott the airlines by not type rating this may well have the effect of causing a shift in the prerequistes. Don't you think this is an extreme measure though? And how would it be administered? Just how, exactly, could we get an entire community - aready desperate to get their feet on the ladder - to agree not to out-do a fellow applicant by not paying for some additional "training". In fact, why not go one step further and everbody refuse to fund their CPL/ATPL training and get the airlines to do it properly from start to finish? The answer is it won't happen!
These are my thoughts and there is no ruling - for or against - paying for a type rating (or even buying the aircraft if you're really desperate/rich) in order to enhance your chances. What is for sure though is that airlines are experts at what they want and we have to accept this. If an airline is prepared to type-rate you they may even prefer that you don't have a rating on that type at all. On the other hand they may stipulate one as a prerequisite. What we see now is a case of newly qualified pilots investing in "further education" in order to enhance their chances.
Make sure you are not left behind. Don't get one if you don't need to. Do if you do!
df1