jhorton
your question is a good one. I see a lot of people setting out on this career with rose-tinted specs firmly in place.
At risk of being seen to be overly negative, or one of the so-called "moaners", I think it's important to give you a slightly different viewpoint.
Firstly, remember the answers you get will tend to vary greatly depending on how long someone's been doing the job. I'd say less than ten years in the cockpit of an airliner and people on the whole are mostly very positive about the job. After that.............
Certainly in the short haul world in the UK, the job has changed very much for the worse. Basically a much more fatiguing flying environment, with less meaningful time off to organise a normal life away from home. I won't mention money, because that's all relative anyway to how people perceive their own worth, and tends to muddy the discusssion.
As for comparing flying to other jobs, I hardly see that's the point - simply because 'A' is better than 'B' doesn't mean that 'A' is actually any good, if you see what I mean.
And while Jetstream Rider has his list of positives, I'm not sure that being able to buy Christmas presents abroad for example is the best reason to embark on a career. No offence to J R by the way, if it does it for him, then that's great.
You already have a PPL, and you're asking what extra is there in professional flying? In a nutshell, I'd say you get to fly aeroplanes that wouldn't otherwise be available to you, and you get to become an experienced, skillful and crusty aviator. An operator, manager and flyer of big jets.
However, the price you will pay for this is fatigue, great difficulty balancing home and work, with work always coming first, and possible disillusionment as you get older. Some will say of course that's the same in any job.
Remember, for most pilots the job doesn't change much. Your job is to safely and efficiently fly that aeroplane from A to B and back again time after time until you retire. If you think that sounds great, then go for it.
However, if you need to be creative, if you need to climb the corporate ladder, if you have ambitions about making serious money etc etc, then think hard. In other words, do you want to be the chaffeur flying the corporate jet, or the guy in the back? I'm not being flippant by the way, I just think that's a good way to think about what you want and what the job represents.
As you well know, in the end only you can decide.
Good luck with your choice.