Dr Eckener,
Does it really matter if your mates will be earning loads more? Most people I know earn two to three times my salary, but don't seem to enjoy their jobs much at all.
Yes, the 70K would be a problem, but for many of us mere mortals, an airline career would be the first proper salary we ever earn (even at the ripe old age of 30!). It is certainly impossible for me to save even half that in my current career, so it has become a catch-22 situation: without an airline (or similar paying) career I cannot afford to undertake training.
I doubt many people at all choose this career for the salary it offers, but I am surprised by how many people also seem to claim the salary is insufficient to justify it.