It is very sad that we have reduced ourselves to this pointless bickering over whether one should pay or not pay for a job. We fight with one another trying to prove who is right and who is wrong when in acutality our anger should be directed at the industry/companies, not one another. For those against PFT you can complain until you are blue in the face but it will not change the fact that companies will continue to practice this business strategy. It's sort of like paying taxes, we don't like it and complain but it's to no avail.

All of us got into this profession because we love to fly. Equally we all knew coming in that the pay was not good and that you need to "pay your dues" before reaping the benefits. I knew as a kid there were two things I wanted to be when I grew up and that was a Police Officer and a Pilot. Both jobs pay absolute peanuts. I just ended an eight year career as a Police Officer to pursue my flying career. I am entering the CFI stage of my training still not certain when complete how to build my hours. I looked into Gulfstream Academy but decided quick against it because of the high price tag.

I guess I am trying to make several points here. From a business standpoint sometimes it is worthwhile to have potential employees pay for their ratings. If i'm not mistaken doesn't SWA require a type rating in a 737 before consideration. Second is we shouldn't be arguing with each other but instead try to mentor and ecourge. Everyone has a different view on how to succeed in this industry and trying to tell someone they are going about it the "WRONG" way is not going to help because that is nothing but a point of view. It would be like trying to convince a Republican to turn Democrat and vice versa.

In the words of Forrest Gump "That's all I gotta say bout that"