Apart from Ryanair which other airlines expect SSTR?
Flyboyfryer,
See what you're saying wrt rock and hard place. However, extrapolate what the SSTR chap is doing. By being willing to undercut his fellow man he will be hired - should it not be based on skill, knowledge or any other laudible attributes?
Instead it is effectively, I'll pay you to fly your planes, in fact I'll buy my own uniform and take packed lunches to work too.
Other airlines will see this and as a means of cost cutting consider introducing it into their airlines.
The end game is a "profession" where the Ts and Cs are so crap that it only attracts people with money and/or love to fly so much that they're willing to put up with it. Just because somebody has lots of money and/or really wants to do something means that they have the skill/attributes to do it.
Instead we should have the most capable and able people going into the profession and being rewarded commensurate to their responsibilities and on a par with other professions they could have chosen to go in to. Sponsored Cadet courses are the best means (from zero to hero as someone else said) - it's a totally level playing field. If everyone said enough, and no one applied to the airlines they'd have to start funding these again.
Cheers
BB