I have just read the last 10 pages of this thread. I have a burning question...
Why not just take out a loan of £25,000, go to the USA or Canada (where I did my PPL for £3,000 + cheap hour building), get the JAA course (or convert an FAA/Transport Canada one - still going to be cheaper than the £69,000 you lot are talking about!) and then just come back to England and apply for a job?
I don't understand why you lot need to spend £69,000 and be in a huff about jobs when you could go abroad, get your CPL Multi IFR plus a few hours, do your ATPLs whilst flying, come back with 300-400 hours and apply to an airline?
I'm not being sarcastic; I generally want to know why you don't just do that?
If an airline likes you, won't they train you on the Airbus and take it from your salary for the following 5 years?
That way, you only spend around £25,000 abroad, and have £45,000 left over!
Looking forward to some insights since I don't understand why you all care to spend £70,000. Even if you had to pay for your own type rating on top of the £25,000 from being abroad, it still won't total £70,000!