camlobe, your information is way, way out of date!
IDS, to renew your PPL, all you need to do is:
1. NO EXAMS!
2. Get a JAA Class 2 medical. Eventually you will need a Class 1 for the CPL though.
3. Fly whatever refresher flying training your instructors think you need - there is NO specific hours requirement.
4. Take the PPL Skill Test with an Examiner; this will include a few oral questions.
5. Send your old PPL and all the paperwork plus cheque off to the CAA.
You can do all of this at a RAFFCA flying club for a fraction of the cost of going to the USA.
You may then enrol on a Modular CPL course.
However, the quickest way to a fATPL would be to invest in an Integrated course at somewhere with a good reputation, such as Oxford, Cabair or Jerez. Some airlines have indeed been known to have a good look at the qualities of course students and have recruited pilots still under training! Not something likely to happen to students in some anonymous school overseas - and to get a start in the airlines needs contacts at your stage in life.
Airlines are expanding - and almost 50% of the kids with fATPLs paid for by themselves who have never passed any aptitude or officer selection type test are considered by airlinr recruiters tobe virtually unemployable. They are simply not the sort of people airlines want in their cockpits.
Navs have left at 38/16 and made it to the airlines, so you won't be the first!