As I understand it, this practice has been going on since September 11th (and maybe even before) due to the number of inexperienced pilots far out weighing the number of seats available, and a few airlines (started by Ryan air I think) said “Why the hell not?”
If you don’t wish to participate, then don’t! I don’t have 30,000 spare. I think that with hard work I could raise it, but I choose not to.
However I do not begrudge a friend of mine who did pay for his rating and line training, and has now just got set on by one of the low costs.
If you wish to do it and can get the money, then good on you. If you can’t raise it, unlucky, your options are restricted. That’s life – it’s not always a fair world out there. If you can raise the money and choose not to (like me) stop complaining when someone else does it. You don’t know how hard they worked to raise all the money for the ATPL training and TR, or what their circumstances are. This is the industry you choose to spend you money in training for. Don’t moan because someone else is willing to take a bigger risk.
Maybe one day I’ll change my mind, but at the moment, I’ll abstain and keep those CV’s flying out the door
IBR