I’ve been on short haul at BA for a year now, having spent time at easy before. There is more dead time at BA, but I’ve not found it terrible. Yes the changing planes is a bit of a hassle, but when you’ve got 90 mins between flights, by the time you’ve packed up, walked to the next plane and grabbed a coffee there isn’t much hanging around. It’s not often you have more than that, plus if you’re a bit late, it means you just eat into that time.
On the subject of commuting, I think short haul full time would be tough commuting.