Hi Phileas
Read and understood.
Completely agree the scenario as you put it regarding the payments from Airline to agency and then to pilot, however AT THE END OF THE DAY, the agency is the employer (in most cases anyway) and therefore is contractually liable for payment to the contractor, irrespective of funds received from the client airline. Thus my comment regarding the potential for retrieving the owed funds from the agency even via court.
I do not accept the excuse that an agency cannot pay you, because they have not received money from their client, that is simply not the problem of the contract pilot, it is the problem of the agency and their financial management. Thus, I would always prefer to work for an 'established' agency rather than one of the new ones, as this increases the likelihood of successful retrieval of funds.
So saying, I am not accusing any new agency of malpractice or intention to do so, merely suggesting that caution is applied when accepting work from said new 'players'.
As I say I have worked for three agencies, and not had any major issues at all, and the few minor issues have been dealt with relatively quickly and without bother.
Unlike other posters on Pprune, I have no problem with working for an agency, after all I have the option to choose to do so or not.
BD