I think what is very important to remember during the, oft, heated debate that surrounds P2F is that, irrespective of the competency of the applicant, the precedent being set by those Airlines who wish to pursue this revenue stream is dangerous.
Not in any sense of flying dangerous but in the sense that train and bus drivers get tuition from the company on their equipment why should pilots have to pay to get the same training on an aircraft.
P2F never used to happen whilst airlines selected cadets based upon a broad spectrum of requirements as the training was considered to be a part of the overall package. Those requirements ranged from the ability to pass the flying training to holding the correct temperament for the job and everything in between. Rising fuel prices, increasing airport fees, unjust taxation, plummeting fares and the general state of the economy after 13 years of New Labour mis-management have put a big change to all of that.
It would be unjust to imply that ALL pilots who utilise P2F are unsuited to the airline role. Some are, some aren't, the problem comes that the filtering system being used is the ability to pay for the course. In a world bombarded with statistics one could say that the proportion of 'adequate to inadequate' pilots just got bigger based upon the selection criteria.
Worse still we have accountants who are looking at trainee pilots as a revenue stream, those pilots have little or no loyalty to the company they are paying to fly with and they are well aware that their tenure extends only to the end of their paid hours. The loading on the training Captains and the training department is huge. Airlines were never meant to be FTO's.
The only thing that can stop this horrendous 'slavery' by the airlines is a concerted effort from the authorities. The CAA needs to address the habit of RHS rotation for profit. The AOC was never meant to cover such things, perhaps they should all be re-written to include a clause which allows training for the purposes of company specific pilot retention only.
Wannabees will never stop paying to get that one step ahead of the competition, it's human nature and, lets be honest, who can blame them if they have the capital.
Lets attack the rot where it started, those companies who are exploiting these pilots for profit before casting them aside for the next one.
Good luck!