Tallbloke, I am afraid you haven't a clue what you are talking about. All the self sponsored scemes that take place here under the auspices of related airlines are fully endorsed by those airlines who have a genuine undertaking to employ their selected candidates after training.
Of course there are no guarantees as with anything for a low hours wannabe at the moment so yes there is significant risk involved. Fact is that the bean counters are not authorising any risk at all at the moment for renewed full sponsorship schemes and are unlikely to for a long time yet. For someone that is not approved at FTE believe me something would be better than nothing and these schemes are definitely worth a shot. Like it or not this is the type of scheme that is emerging as the prefered route post 9/11 and I believe is here to stay.
As regards to CTC the whole product offered here is entirely different and much better value for money as the course is integrated and you get all the groudschool taught and not learned off a computer 14,000 miles away in NZ. PLus when you eventually start with an airline you will be paid a decent wage instead of being paid the shocking payscales akin to those set up for CTC grads with Easyjet for 7 years!!