Ok, I think you're confusing one thing....I knew very well what to expect when trying to get into this career and I went into it eyes wide open. Further, I'd love, I'd absolutely love the challenge of flying day to day into new airfields, flying NPAs, short, icy, fields in Scandawegia and so on. I have no desire to fly long haul, as I prefer the bits at either end, than the monitoring, button pushing bit in the middle....
But the bit you're missing however, is that I'M not talking about ME. I'm talking generally. You can view all my posts on this forum and indeed OAAs and you'll find that my message broadly has consistently been one to "slow down, limit your debt and enjoy it"....so on that I think we agree.
However, whilst perhaps commercial aviaition, even in the airlines, doesn't offer perhaps stockbroker levels of income, it does still offer a nice enough living. FWIW, my current job earns me a nice living, but it doesn't make my heart jump either....THAT is why I trained for a career change (perhaps my timing could use some work, but hey!)
What I'm TRYING to get through, is that your perspective is that people should take an FI job on £15k and then work their way up. That's fair enough. It's a very honourable route and I dare say one would learn skills that would ellude the career airline pilot. I also dare say you'd have some bloody good fun....but if you've just spent £70k at OAA, you'll also be bankrupt. You'll not have any kind of life .... and as you say, it's JUST. NOT. WORTH. that....which is why people are drawn to the route of paying for the type rating, which provides a job allowing the loans to be repaid etc.
I'm honestly not trying to be contentious...for me personally, I COULD go the FI route, but it's not really what I want to do - the money is only one part of it, although admittedly a big part....for me the ideal would be to have enough bunce of my own to fly around something like my own 800XPC, or better a gulf 5 and to be flying it purely for the fun of it. I KNOW that airline flying will be "just a job" within 5 years in all probability, but I also know that I've done fifteen years flying a desk and even on the worst days of tedium, I can look back at this and know I've made the right move. However, fun though flying is, there are also other things that are important to me, that require a decent living to be made. Things like my family, my house, holidays and so on. I don't WANT to live on the breadline for the sake of a tiny patch of quickly eroding moral high ground.
You think of my perspective like a game of golf, good analogy.
My wife is very pregnant....a little clanger is now something over 8 days late....so we've been talking about pain relief (or lack of) a lot....your view is reminiscent to me of THAT conversation....."there are no prizes for getting there MORE painfully".
And that's the problem....you seem to have a very black and white view on this and it just ISN'T that simple. Effectively chastising yourself by taking the hard route, won't stop this happening...it's just screwing yourself over.
think about what you're saying, I'll even add the subtext for you...."You newbies should take an FI job [IF you can find one, because it's the only job other than airline FO you can get with 200 hours, pay another £7k on top of what you've already spent] and earn £15 - £20k pa, rather than paying the extra £20k and getting a job that pays about £20k pa more."
You may not like it, but the option is there and it's significantly more appealing, even if the job won't be as satisfying. Personally, I don't think it's right, but it isn't going to change any time soon, because every one looks out for themselves in this industry...and whilst that's not right I don't blame anyone else for looking after their own best interests, if everyone else is only looking out for THEIR best interests.