Funny how people look at things. BA offering a £59k basic to join and easy offered £104k. The roles are very different yes but my family don’t care which seat I sit on. I suggest you don’t look at the BA pay scales as well. The fact it takes 14 years on BA SH lgw to make the basic easy paid me the day I joined...... speaks volumes and it’s why threads like this crop up.
Spot on, VJW, I'm in exactly the same position as yourself. I'm left seat easy now instead of joining BA longhaul, I work hard and I get paid very well. It's all about expectation, the aviation jobs out there that are a cushy number these days are as rare as rocking horse sh*t. Most of the stress comes from perception and mindset, you just have to be happy with what you've signed on the dotted line for, like how many crew do we know that whinge their tits off when they get called from standby? A standby duty isn't a right to stay at home, you're being called for a duty you should have potentially been doing anyway, if you have the mindset that if you spend it at home it's a bonus then you'll be in a far better place mentally and more relaxed. Being stressed is more fatiguing than being relaxed, if your constantly stressing about a long week ahead then it'll affect you more. I didn't get home till 3am this morning and I have another long night ahead but I'm comfortable with it. I don't feel half as tired as I would if I was whining about it all the time. Pilots are the most highly strung fraternity I've ever known, take a chill pill guys.