Sadly someone somewhere has told the pax that the ATPL is the license for their plots to have. I often listen in to our ops staff telling customers that yes pilot X has ATPL/IR and yes the aircraft is maintained to the hilt. And strangely the insurers do like pilots holding ATPLs as it shows a higher level of experience and theoretical knowledge and so our premiums are cheaper. When we are trawling the C.Vs as we are at the moment what we look for is how much corporate/charter experience followed by the qualifications
But, don't knock ATPL theory. Helicopters operate worldwide, an ATPL candidate may think that much of the theory is a waste of space, one day that candidate may find themselves in a part of the world where assistance is hard to find relying on knowledge gleaned from the ATPL theory syllabus, I know I have.