Cloud Cutter gets it...
I'm proud to say I have never paid for any of my type ratings over 20 years of airline flying. Having said that, if I needed a job and the only option was to buy a type rating, I wouldn't hesitate. Jobs don't belong to people with the least resources, and in this world, the person who equips themselves the best for the job market, will get the job - simple as that.
Personally i'd prefer to get the job on merit. I'd prefer my family to be sitting behind the guy who got the job on merit, not the guy with the richest parents. Call it personal preference.
The people who say that they would never fork over lots of money to work for somebody else, have clearly never attended university or any other higher-learning institution. How much does a good degree cost these days? And what is the purpose of it? Who here thinks that it is perfectly acceptable to fork over a small fortune for a good MBA, the purpose of which is to enable you to work for somebody else? Time to start living in the real world!
The difference being a University (which I have attended, thanks anyway) is a facility of learning, an institution that exists for the purpose of being paid to give my qualification. Its not an employer. The same as medical school. What do you think this doctor is going to say upon completion when you tell him he now needs to pay 40 grand simply for the privilege of being allowed to work. That he should simply accept it as a competitive advantage requirement? Why don't I just walk into Qantas tomorrow and throw 200 grand at them and say here, take that, now give me a job. I wonder what kind of culture thats going to promote for my peers.
If you want to be a professional pilot, you have to face the facts and pay the price. It's peanuts anyway when you consider the earning potential if you succeed... even though it seems like an insurmountable pile of money when you start.
For me personally its entirely an issue of principle. I'm lucky in the sense that i'm in a better position than alot of my peers and could comfortably walk in and drop the J* money on the table tomorrow if thats what I wanted but I never will, I completely disagree with the practice and find it horrendously exploitive. When I consider the long term all I see is intelligent young people diverting into other professions because when you look at the $ numbers in aviation they no longer even remotely stack up. All you will end up with is a continually decreasing quality in your airline applicant as the best and brightest choose more rewarding fields. In fact in my view this has already started and pprune is certainly not short of 'are CPL holders getting worse and worse as time goes on?' threads.
I understand your viewpoint but I believe if pilots were a bit more patient, unified and didn't have the false expectation to go straight from 150 hr CPL into the right seat of a 738 (mostly fostered by over zealous flight training organizations trying to get people in the door) then there would be no market for these 40 grand job fees. There's a job for everyone out there and cutting off your peers at the knees isn't the way I want to operate. If someone wants me to work for them then I expect them to pay for my on site training. I'm already bringing all the required licenses, degrees and flight experience to the table so its the least they can do. Its also comparative in practice to other professions out there.
That said i'm actually quite in favour of bonding.