monk,
Your post offends me. I have 4000 hours and fly a 737 - I completed modular training, after weighing up both the options. I did not 'mince around' during training. I cannot comprehend how CTC/Oxford/FTE et al can charge nearly DOUBLE the price of most schools as they churn out pilots and there still be people to pay it. Most of the course fee would appear to be devoted to marketing in Airliner World with pretty pictures of pilots wearing said discussed Raybans.
During my hour building, I flew different length legs, I flew into different countries and different weathers, and different airfields. From what I know of most integrated schools, you have to have your flightplan 'approved' by some faceless office goon who gives you 'permission' to fly your chosen route assuming it's not too dangerous. You then 'mince around' as you put it, in the middle of Arizona where there are hardly ANY weather issues to contend with and pretend your learning, while you fly to nice paved runways that are over 1000m long. How is that learning? There is nothing better to teach you lessons than watching the low fuel light go on because you f***** up your headwind calculations and had to explain yourself to radar when you screw up their arrivals as you need priority. Mistakes are made and that is how you learn.
Contract agencies should be for short term pilot shortages, not to screw genuine pilots seeking a dream whilst fattening the wallets of management at airlines and the schools. I can't wait for the day when the UK bans this pseudo-employment farce that is FlexiCrew/Brookfield, and I say that as a contractor to an agency.
Horgy