The hours should not be the issue. It's the quality of those hours that matters. 1,500 hours in a "spam can" teaching PPLs to fly is not the same as 200 hours of quality instruction, a proper IR on a complicated aircraft and a proper type rating course on a jet. The latter is not cheap, ask any airforce (I don't think any airline pays any more), but the quality is there.
If nothing else, it is what the fare paying passenger deserves. But they also deserve to be flown by a properly rested crew, one that is paid enough so they can afford accommodation within a reasonable distance from where they report for duty. They also deserve to be flown by people who don't have to worry about how they are going to afford to buy their family their food or pay for their cars etc. Cheap comes at a price.