I think Earl and Brody have done you all a service with 2 excellent posts .
I miss BA for all the reasons they have outlined - excellent control over your family and social life being BIG . A happy pilot is a productive one . No job is perfect , but BA have got morale pretty good ( I am not talking about the other lot at the moment ! ).
The DOJ gives you the knowledge that no-one will ever be a DEC and take your rightful command , when you have ticked all the boxes of course.
I was a lucky joiner in 96 ( RHS 747 ) who got a command at LGW after 1 year . This happened because of the ridiculous pay structure at the time , and because of my extensive 737 command experience. I was very lucky in that the pay almost immediately improved for LGW crew and by the time I reached 55 the current all-encompassing pay structure was being introduced . This has of course levelled both playing fields ( LHr and LGW ) so I guess I would agree that current time to command would be 12-15 years ( CURRENTLY ) but this always changes with adjustments to fleet strength and other factors ie more changes to retirement age etc . However , I reckon that any increase in retirement age above 65 , if it were ever to happen , would mean the wrinklies being restricted to RHS . But , I think the rule about 2 60+ year-olds not being allowed to fly together may well scupper any ideas about this ever happening. Rostering / Bidline may well be excellent , but Standbys ( or Reserve in Nigel-speak ) would become fraught .
Its all a bit like cricket when it comes to joining BA or not , win the toss , think about bowling , but bat anyway.