This is the way of the world now..before, in gin palace days we were "bonded" maybe for 3 years..but it didn't seem to matter as we were not planning on jumping ship.. that was a NO NO, even the companies you might have been going to took a dim view of it for obvious reasons... Now, they have to "pay in advance" .. is this a reflection on the market, the companies, or from a lesson learnt in the past? Well, it doesn't matter because we can't change it! So when you see an ad for "type rated/ non type rated 777 Cpts and FOs" are you going to bin it if you want a job..Of course not,,Why? because there is no alternative, and probably won't be. I am in Europe as I type! and the company is having a major restructure as part of an investment, and guess what.. Reduce the price per cockpit and offer jobs to those willing to pay for ratings is in the agenda, curiously across all the fleet types, we knew it would happen on the feeders but didn't expect it on the long haul.. C'est la vie! chaps Quelle Damage