In reply to Oliiver: Hi there not a commercial pilot but I know quite a lot about the profession. To fly professionally you need three main things: an Airline Transport Pilot Licence, a type rating and experience. You can either pay for this yourself (normally with the help of either mum and dad or a big loan.), get a scholarship off an airline company (BA, Cathay pacific have recently offered schemes) or join the RAF.
An ATPL says you can operate an aircraft in a commercial environment, a type rating says you can fly that type of aircraft and then companies also look your experience, normally measured in hours on each type of aircraft and what role you were doing (captain or co-pilot for example).
If you decide to pay for it yourself, you can either go with a commercial company like Oxford Aviation or get all the qualifications yourself. The former is usually more expensive, but you get a good syllabus, it is well known in the industry and they have a good system of getting new pilots jobs. The later may be cheaper, but the training may not be as good, it requires a lot of self motivation, and airlines may not be as receptive to you.
A scholarship is basically like the above, expect the airline either picks up the bill, or works out a very tax efficient method for you to repay them. It is highly competitive to get one, and there normally is a return of service with the schemes, but if you want to fly for the airlines this is probably the best method.
Another well trodden route is to join the RAF as a pilot, become a fast jet or multi engine mate, and take your experience with you when you come to leave. The advantages of this route is the training is second to none; you may get to do come ultra cool ops and training (think flying around the lake district or Scottish hills at low level on nvgs at night, air combat training, formation flying.....) and the airlines think quite highly of you. The downside is that you have to join the military, with everything that entails, and you may not want the career path you originally thought you would get (like not going fast jet and having to fly helicopters, not that that's bad though). Also you do not get any civilian qualifications so you have to do that yourself.
