Every airline I know of checks PRIA stuff from the previous employer. At my current employer they actually had three different ways of checking and used all three (Our VP Flight Ops was asked, they had our records available via their computer and they got the PRIA copies). The worst situation in the world would be to get your dream job, then get fired for lying, even though it was something that they would have hired you with anyway.

One failed check ride is not the kiss of death. In fact, some airlines are kind of famous for handing out pink slips. For a while the bust rate on ASA's E120 Captain upgrade got up near 80%. Those doing the hiring at major airlines are usually selected for the job because they are some of the sharpest and nicest Captains at that airline.

Standards should be standardized. Anyone who has been in this business for a while know standards are all over the place and the APD / LCA does seem to give you a break for having a lot of experience compared to the relatively tight realm of testing for initial upgrades (either that, or they have managed to teach me something over the years).