Fascinating discussion, albeit ultimately easyJet vs BA again. As the Count accurately summarises, there are many pros and cons to both.
For me, the idea of reaching the pinnacle of my career in my early 30s, followed by years of flogging between the same runways with nothing to look forward to other than fatigue, roster disruption and eventually part time, was enough to push me off towards BA. I won't reach an easyJet Captain's salary for many years, but at least now I have options, a career path and some fantastic experiences to look forward to.
This is a unique industry where you have to back a horse early on - rocking up at BA in your mid 40's, in my opinion, is too late. Clearly you can only make these decisions based on your own situation at the time - it's certainly not easy and I honestly couldn't say at this point that I've done the right thing. Perhaps it'll be years before I'll even know.
What is obvious though is that the gap is closing between Easy and BA, and I can envisage a day when BA see a real reduction in applications unless they stem the pressure on Ts&Cs. Easy is a great place to work and the financial rewards are huge, if that's what motivates you. Of course long haul is the big differentiator, but remove that, I might have have stayed put.
In summary there's no right answer. Choose what suits you, and live with your decision. Easier said than done of course.