Hi Ian,
You may already have a full appreciation of this point, but please make sure that you don't fall for the type of line that O'Leary often spouts that gives the impression that his pilots only work for 18 hours per week/900 hours per year. He does specify fly and not work when he says it, but I think we all know what impression he's trying to give Joe Public. He's simply raking up a comment which worked well for Rupert Murdoch during the Australian Pilot strike of the early 90s.
Likewise in your post above, make sure it's clear in your mind that the FTL figures you quote are for flight time and not duty time.