I guess I'm not quite sure as to the reasons why the JAA track and the FAA track to the airlines seem to differ so much..
There is no JAA or FAA track, period. Regulatory bodies don't move people into employment positions; they set standards of certification, and enforce the regulations set forth to govern.
In the United States, unscrupulous companies have found that enough self-inflated dirtbags floating around out there exist who will pay to work, that they sell seats in their airplanes. This isn't new, but it's garnered more attention over the past few years. The result is individuals who's primary qualification to be in the cockpit is that they paid to be there, rather than individuals who worked hard, dedicated themselves to their career, and who earned the right to be in the seat by being the best candidate for the job.
On the same side of the coin, these individuals tend to lower the bar by proving that a steady supply of pay-a-dime-a-dozen pilots exist to fill seats...keeping wages low, standards low, and respect for the profession low. Ironically, it's usually these same fat-wallet blowhards who whinny the loudest a few years down the line, screaming that they should be paid more. The same who defecated in their own bed, wet on the industry, and vomited where they ate. They never see the damage they do at the time, but cry the loudest that they're not treated as special as they'd like as time goes on.
Why is this different in the United States, vs. Europe? The flying community and pool is much,much larger in the US. For a long time, the primary customers of the pay to play programs were foriegners, often europeans and middle easterners. They would show up with the cash to play, buy their jobs, and then go home with their hours to a government subsidized job in a much smaller pool of pilots.
Even Eruopean airlines, such as Lufthtansa, has their training facility here in the US...starting students from scratch ("ab initio") to move from a Bonanza to an airline seat in a record short period. Interesting that cost dictates the operation be conducted in the United States...fly in the southwest and watch out for the yellow bonanzas that are flown by broken english crasheumups that blow into the pattern with fifteen radio calls and eyes on the panel...the ones flying fifteen mile downwinds, who will be your next pilot when you ride from Bonn to Berlin. If they didn't have that school, they'd probably be paying for their jobs too (they really are, anyway).
Here, we have Comair...no difference, really.
A step below all of that are companies such as Gulfstream that rent out pilot seats...because they can get away with it, and there's always some dipstick willing to prostitute himself for the grand honor of raising the landing gear in a Beech 1900.
JAA and FAA have nothing to do with it. Avarice, greed, and stupidity rule the pay to play arena, in a sickening display of improper self government. The FAA merely sets the practical test standards and provides ATC services to all, whereas JAA does just the same. The sponsors of the madness are the pinheads themselves who fork over their parents dollars to pay to do a job that the whoring airline should instead pay for...why is it more prevailant here than in Europe? There are more suckers willing to lay down their wad in exchange for a few hours of ink in a logbook and a damaged reputation to crown their sorry backside. Supply and demand, mate. Supply and demand.