Jobs outside UK? Also are prospects better?
I've read the entire thread.
Several questions and comments, especially for Bealzebub:
1. When you talk about tagged cadet programs, are those programs aimed at fATPL holders and include the type rating training alone? are they aimed at PPL holders and include CPL? Ab initio candidates for the entire training start to finish?
2. you say, and I tend to agree, that integrated programs in general and particularly tagged ones can be more appealing to large employers since they have better information about the candidate record and training process.
But what about a person who takes modular courses at the same school, in a short time frame? Their training process was completed in a single school, and if that school has good reputation, do you still suppose he less favorable for employment by a first tier airline, than a fellow 250h (non-tagged) integrated course graduate?
3. This forum, and particularly this thread, is very UK-centric.
I see only OAA and CTC mentioned, and only BA, Ryanair, Easyjet and the like.
But what about other EU airlines? Other schools?
I personally know a person who graduated a tagged integrated program in Finland with 250h, and was put on the waiting list to Finnair for over a year (all the while working as an Instructor). At some Finnair had job cuts so in desperation he applied to Lufthansa and got a position on the first try, finished an AB320 type few months ago and making VERY nice living (+4500 euros a months brutto). I know (through a friend) of another Finn who did the same and now flies for Emirates, also within months of graduating, according to this forum, they are the lucky few, but they are not so few, I started to look and there are quite many people who found a job at an airline with low amount of hours, if they looked abroad, not only domestically.
Why is everyone here so focused on British/Irish airlines? Why aren't you looking abroad?
4. To Mad Jock (and others): The main argument against integrated training is the cost.
Does anything change if I live in a country where I'm able to get a zero interest study loan secured by the government for the entire sum needed, and can only get it for an integrated 0-ATPL program (as modular courses for PPL are seen more as a hobby for the rich)? Does anything change if I'm anyway going to do the training abroad due to bad Nordic weather with government backed loan, so I wouldn't be able to work simultaneously anyway, and won't have to? Does anything change if I'm soon 32 and cannot afford to waste any time on researching, comparing, managing paper work, travelling and think it will be faster and easier if someone does it all for me, so I can focus on the training better?
5. The thread started in 2010, with last message by a veteran (as far as I can tell) in 2013. Is the situation still as bad now, mid 2015? Is it still a huge risk to start training now, soon 32, if I wish to be a pilot in an airline like Lufthansa? I'm not talking about the situation in UK but globally, wherever an FAA/EASA license allows me to work. If I'm single and have nothing to keep me in my home country, don't I have way more options?
I'm from Finland, 31, considering leaving my PhD and academic career and start training in EFT, not sure whether in integrated (120K USD) or modular (about 75K USD), for the reasons mentioned in #4.
Thanks for your opinion!