I don't think we should berate Bealzebub for calling a spade a spade ... I welcome his contributions.
Sometimes the truth is uncomfortable, but it is nonetheless the truth - and the sooner we accept it, the sooner we can all get on with enjoying our lives.
I work for a Big Airline in a job that sees me fly with flightcrew on longhaul flights on a weekly basis - I have had PLENTY of opportunity to speak to flightcrew regarding their thoughts on training to become a professional pilot. I have even spoken to the head of pilot recruitment for this Big Airline.
All I can say is that they back up the comments provided by Bealzebub.
Applying for the easyJet MPL cadet programme is only one path to becoming a pilot. If it doesn't suit your circumstances or you don't agree with the conditions, then don't apply.
Personally this programme wasn't for me, so I declined to apply.
But live, and let live...some people are prepared to pay for all of their own training, including type rating...fair enough. Such is life. Let's accept the way the world is, and move on...no one has been forced to apply to the scheme.
The airline industry has changed irrevocably over the last 10,20 ...30 years. It is constantly changing; but short of being able to power aircraft engines on some cheap alternative fuel, or society being prepeared to pay a lot more for air travel, I can't see us going back to the days of fully-sponsored training in the UK (even then, airlines would get their investment back from you in one form or another).
I'm aware that there are companies out there that do pay for a portion, or indeed the entire cost of a cadet's training up-front (Lufthansa, Emirates, Cathay and so on), but each company's circumstances are different - who knows what tax breaks or other incentives those companies may have to pay on their cadets' behalf up-front. Either way, the student pilot will end up paying in one form or another. True, a company bond may be preferable to a commercial loan, which is why some schemes are better than others ...
More preferable still is just being plain rich, buying your own aircraft and flying for fun.
