Fokker 100, are you sure about that??, I agree that was the norm during spring/summer 2005 but before xmas I had a number of bond students on the jump seat that were starting line training only a matter of days after finishing their base training and ancillary (SEP) courses! the norm seems to be a wait of between two and four weeks. The only pottential delay these days seem to be the good old BAA ID pass applications but that will never change.
Dirty Harry, sounds fair to me re. global, onwards and upwards and all that.... and an excellent post by the way, my thoughts exactly.
If you want to go to OAT, Cabair, Jerez etal and pay c. £55-60K for a shiny intergrated course (oh.. sorry it is the same license at the end of it all isn't it!!) and pray that the name on your CV will get you a job then go for it. Some will be more prudent (god I sound like Gordon Brown!) about how and where they spend there hard earned or borrowed cash. It is now possible to complete a fATPL modular course (just as shiny!) with a reputable FTO for around the £30K mark, look at the package that Bond have put together with Stapleford. Therefore how ever you go about it you can pottentially leave enough in the budget for TR and perhaps line training if you see that having that on your CV will set you apart (in my view it almost certainly will as long as you are willing to travel and can except pretty much any pay/conditions for a few months until you get to that 500 Hrs on type, as you rightly point out!).
I said it before and I will say it again horses for courses, more than one way to skin a cat, each to their own and all that. YOU HAVE TO MAKE YOUR OWN CHOICES IN LIFE AND IT IS NO DIFFERENT WITH FLIGHT TRAINING. We are all (or should be) professionals, way up the pro's and cons and do what works for you.
The training at Bond is very good in my view and being about to complete my second TR with them in the past 18 months I have more experience than most I guess, that is not to say they don't make mistakes (we are all human!) and will get anyone through that turns up with a big cheque book (they can't gurantee passes, you have to put the work in!). The instructors are all helpful and very experienced, the SIM's they use are BA's at Cranebank and the new Alteon (Boeing) complex at LGW all top notch, they now have purpose built classrooms and mock-up facilities with good CBT, updated Boeing manuals and FMC training tools. They have ready access (or as ready as it can be in a commercial operation) to the AC for base training and base training captains (Bond Head of Training is Base Trainer on the B737-300, -700, B757 and B767) and line training packages are available SHOULD individuals require it (not many other TRTO's can boast that!).
Regards
LOB