Basil , you are a good example of why things are the way they are.
No it's not the same.
When you pay an employer to give you work this is unethical , immoral and some would argue barely legal. Flying around passengers in a commercial aircraft for which you have paid for the privilege to sit in that seat through a sketchy deal is beyond the scope of flying under supervision.
Moreover, ab initio training can be done at any flight school. If a cadet program or structured partnership with an airline is there from the beginning than so be it. The two are not equivalent.
Baa seems all about marketing an image when in turn they are just intersted in money coming in their way