AC,
eight years after graduating, and Mr Pandora is on more than I will ever see as a BA captain. I currently earn less as a FO than I did as a mediocre graduate 5 years ago. I did not start in BA on £25000. (Even think about expenses and I'll not only get out my dictionary to explain what the word means, I'll send you a copy of my Diner's bill to prove it.) I have given 2 years of my life to BA for free. I will spend the first 5 years of my employment with them at a significantly reduced salary, and on top of that comes the double whammy payment of £250 per month for 5 years to cover training costs. At the end of my first 5 years in BA, trust me, they will have got more than their £60 grand's worth out of me. With the pension now in danger it is not the fianancially attractive occupation it once was.
Now don't get me wrong. I love my job. But that is what it is. It is the thing that has to put a roof over my head, feed me and clothe me. It is not a crime or a sin to enjoy the way you earn your money. My friends who (without exception) earn more than me don't spend so much time away from home, nor do they have to report for work at 5:30am. They don't worry about hijackers, engine failures, DVT and radiation, fatigue or jetlag.
If someone started suggesting that because being a lawyer is such a great job, and so many peolpe want to do it that they should start lowering the pay, there would be anarchy in the legal world. As pilots we are professionals and expect to be treated as such. That includes a wage which recognises our professional capacity. I would suggest that if you want to join this group of people you start behaving like a professional. Don't be so ready to sell yourself down the river because a moment of stupidity overtook you and you gave up your right to a comfortable life in exchange for the ability to fly.
At 19 you are young, so some on this site may cut you a little slack. But if you seriously believe I owe BA something because they trained me, you need your head examining. They didn't train me cause they were being nice. They trained me because they need pilots to fly their aircraft, and after extensive experience have found that one of the best ways of getting more pilots is to train them up. No one has yet found a place where pilots grow on trees. And if people weren't quite so willing to thow stupid amounts of money at training BA and other airlines would have to swallow a lot more of the cost.