Ok Qualified to answer this one as have done both ! Horses and courses, pros and cons. I used to work for BACF now in the LCC world. It all depends what you ultimately want out of life away from work. I didn't want to spend my life in a hotel or live in EDI. LCY was not available at the time.
Work wise your days at BACF will generally be shorter than at a LCC. EZY do the odd nightstop. You will spend a good deal of time in hotels with people who won't always want to do stuff to fill the time. For every great trip I had I had two where I was pretty bored ! Money wise tours sound great but I did end up spending a lot of it to amuse myself (see also platinum bar FRA). Some tours are quite long. If you are living away or planning to live away from home, good news, save a load of cash on digs. If you are planning to relocate a family away from home and their friends think very carefully as you may be away, i.e. not there to support, a lot of the time. There is nothing worse than sitting in a european hotel with your daughter in floods of tears on the phone !
You'll do less flying hours at BACF but duty hours will equate to most LCCs. However, you will generally only get two days off at a time. In most LCCs you will be on a fixed roster pattern with at least three days off. The scheduling agreement is the biggest plus. You really can't be screwed around in the way you will be in the LC world. The other big plus is that the company will look after you a bit better than the equivalent LCC. However, you do pay for this on the bottom line of your pay slip ! BUT if you need a month off sick they won't put you straight on 100 quid a week !
Although it may now have changed you pay for nothing at BACF out of your own pocket. Nearly all the LCCs have some nasty surprise lurking in the small print of your Ts&Cs ! Oh we don't provide accomodation, etc...
BACF is good if :
You want to do nightstops. (Young free single / old divorced !)
You want to do interesting flying LCY. (used to do places like INN and CMF).
You don't want any financial surprises and the bottom line on the pay slip isn't the most important factor in your life.
You want to live in EDI or commute to LCY.
You want a reasonably good staff travel package.
You want to know exactly what you're doing tomorrow !
DON'T join BACF if you think it's a guaranteed way into BA Mainline and that's all your interested in. Better off getting an airbus of Boeing type rating elsewhere and applying externlly IF THEY EVER RECRUIT AGAIN ! Have heard the "we'll be in mainline any day now" line for the last ten years through various incarnations !
LCCs good if :
You need to build flying hours quickly.
You need blocks of days off want to plan your life more than 8 weeks in advance.
You want to earn the maximum amount of money possible for your experience and you don't mind paying for a few things yourself. (Can be more expensive than it first looks ! Especially RYR)
You want to be at home in your own bed every night, even if it is after 4am !
If ultimately you don't want to pay for a type rating BACF is a good place to start ! Everywhere else they'll pay you more but take some of it away ! However, lots or people operate 737s and A3XX Something else to think about.
Hope that helps and is fairly even handed. As for me prefer LCC only because I want to be at home every night and now have that handy Boeing on the licence !