ManxSpeedBird,
If all you want to do until you retire is fly shiny jets then clearly Atlantic is not for you. Your assertion that 99% of wannabees would prefer a BA sponsorship may or may not be correct, but the point is that BA are not offering sponsorship. Add to this the recent cadet schemes run by British Midland and Aer Lingus where none of the pilots were employed on completion of training and you might start to see the point I am trying to make.
As regards the LCC's, I just feel that it is fundamentally wrong for operators to charge pilots for type ratings. I know that this is a view shared by many, but for those that choose to do this, it is your choice.
Lumpy,
The point about the 50/50 scheme is noted and there is certainly some truth in what you say. I think that this scheme looked good at the outset but failed to allow for the fact that it may prove difficult to place the pilots on completion of the training. The question is, could or should anyone have foreseen the present recruitment market. The best I can come up with is maybe, with hindsight.