Sorry BB, don't know what your experience is but that is utter BS.
I think you will find that
some pilots may well be Captains by that age, those that started young and qualified young and have worked for fast growing airlines like Easyjet or Ryanair, but in just about every airline I have ever worked with in the last 15 years in the industry working in both handling and for 2 airlines directly, a
majority of Captains are the wrong side of 40, with very few in fact being "well into Captaincy by that age" (33) !!.
Sorry to nitpick but your sweeping statement just isn't true in my experience.
kohtao,
If you are starting out late, there is every opportunity to get a job, you just have to be more realistic in what you can achieve. Getting to a senior training capt in BA is probably not going to happen, but it could at a smaller airline like Flybe or Eastern Airways for example, as these airlines know full well the younger guys will jump ship to move on to heavy metal once a job comes up, so they like the older guys as they will tend to stick around longer and work their way up the ladder into the senior positions. It is still possible to make it all the way to the LHS in airlines like FR and Easy as they promote very quickly - or have done in the last few years of rapid expansion and again due to younger guys jumping to go fly l/haul.
I'm 33 too, so don't worry about the age - if you can afford to go integrated, you could be applying for jobs by the end of next year, I myself could not - (well not taking loss of earnings into account too) so I'm going modular and it has taken me 3 years up to now (although even modular you could be done in around a year too if you did it full time), but should be done by the end of this year.
There are a lot of younger guys out there granted, but from what I have found over the last 3+ years in the flight training machine (and guys I met prior to this), there are also a lot of 2@'s leaning to fly too (Not implying any contributors to this thread are) - yeah they might be able to afford it, and might be able to fly a plane, but lack the personality and social skills which is why they cannot get jobs - the biggest question on an interviewers mind is "Can I sit in a cockpit with this guy for 12 hours ?" - they know you can fly a plane which is why you are at the interview in the first place !!.
If you think in your mind, that the answer will be "yes" to that question, then go for it and don't worry about what the doubters say - chances are they are in the category above and would do themselves a favour to get out and get a social life/personality rather than hiding behind a false persona on here moaning about the lack of jobs.
Too many guys limit themselves to just certain airlines in one country and think because they spent £70K+ it entitles them to a shiny jet job and are not prepared to start at the bottom and work up.
Just be realistic in your expectations of where you will be able to find employment and be as flexible as possible about what you want to fly and where and who you want to work for and you will go a long way.
