Just another viewpoint and not necessarily trying to put you off, just some more food for thought.
'sod the age' is not really something you can afford to do when starting out on this career a 'little later' than the ideal and you are right to question the chances of employment.
Something that has not been mentioned is the demograph, the 'pilot group' model for each airline. In the past a number of airlines, including BA have found themselves with a bulge of a particular age group which can lead to problems later on, such as them all retiring at the same time! Many now target a specific age range with their recruitment to create a more even spread, I know my company were only hiring F/O's up to the age of 35 for exactly this reason last year.
This can work both ways, usually against the 'older' recruit but sometimes in their favour. What you may like to do is try to find out the demographic profile for airlines that you would like to work for to see if you would fit any future recruitment plans. I note you would be happy to do 'holiday charter', give them a call and see what they say. Unfortunately they may be a bit non committal as they are probably not looking to recruit, but worth a try, it might give a better feel for your chances. As a general rule (which you probably already know) you are likely to find it more difficult to get a jet job as your age gets closer to 40. If you do an Ab Initio course and get your frozen ATPL within 2 years of today you still can't bank on getting straight into the rhs of a jet. I got my licence in 2 years, took 5 months to get my first job which I did for 18 months and then was very lucky to leapfrog many people with much more experience than me to get into the rhs of a 'holiday charter' 757. Not trying to dissaude you, just trying to give you a more realistic timeframe from nothing to jet.
Good luck
PP