I think your close relative might be being a bit economical with the truth. Here is the current pay scales (Feb 18 and Mar 18):
British Airways pilot jobs news for airline pilots and aviation schools
Also, for those wanting to be an airline skipper having left the armed forces, it looks like a long-haul captain takes at least 15 years. That is not even a training captain where the mega money is!
People leaving the armed forces as pilots and looking for rock star wages in the airline industry are going to be disappointed. I grant the wages are good but no where near the £200,000 you are hinting at - most make about half that if they are lucky. The link also shows the pension scheme of 15% employer (ie. BA) contribution and 6%, which is 21% total. As others have said the Armed Forces Pension Scheme contributes 51% of the basic armed forces salary into the pot - so a top rate Sqn Ldr on £60,000 would grow their pension pot by £31,000 a year
without personal contribution, plus will in future be getting ~£20,000 RRP(F) ‘flying pay’. The package overall is £111,000. For a BA pilot they would be on say £80,000, the company would contribute £12,000 but the individual would need to contribute £4,800 out of their wages - the total pension contribution would be roughly half that of the armed forces one and so to make it equivalent the individual would need to contribute another £15,000 from their wages. So with even the BA allowance package being close to the £20,000 RRP(F), then overall the airline pilot would be at best close to his military colleague.
So that is why I don’t think money is the issue. The issue for the military person is the ‘death by a thousand cuts’ - a general feeling of lack of trust, a loss of pride, a lost feeling of value and an uncertain future if they are rotary or fast jet in that this is generally a young persons game that few want to keep doing in their mid to late forties. That is why military pilots leave for the airlines in my opinion.
I think this article is nearer the truth
https://warontherocks.com/2018/03/ai...t-the-culture/