I am a recent new joiner to BA having spent four years at easyJet on the 320. I probably would have had a command within the next 12 - 18 months had I stayed at easyJet. I made the decision to move and having worked two full roster now I feel pretty happy with my decision. Ignoring the godawful time easyJet have had over the last year I still think that the job at BA is a country mile better than being at easy. Money isn't everything and whilst a command would have been nice from that perspective, I don't think I could have done many more years of minimum-rest four sector earlies.
The biggest thing I wanted from moving to BA was not to be exhausted for 95% of the time. I found the easyJet roster pattern relentless and, frankly, bad for my health. Two months of Summer flying at BA and I feel pretty good! The days are shorter with more rest before the following report. The hotels are, for the most part, excellent and the food on-board is actually pretty good (a small point perhaps but when you are eating 50% of your food at work it can make a big difference). I feel like a human-being again and that is really priceless. Your health is the most important thing in this game and I honestly felt as if the lifestyle at easyJet was slowly killing me. Melodramatic perhaps but those that have done several years of high-intensity low cost flying know exactly what i'm talking about.
Having said that, it isn't all perfect. The airbus SOPs are "interesting" if you've come from manufacturer's SOPs background. I've also heard of, and experienced, some fairly anal trainers. That is based upon limited exposure to the training department though, i'm sure that the majority of trainers are excellent. All airlines would appear to have this problem to a greater or lesser extent so I probably wouldn't take this into account when making a decision to move to BA or not.
With regards to work / life balance then the Bidline system seems to be exactly as portrayed in previous posts. Amazing if you are at the top and a bit of a lottery if you are at or near to the bottom. The most senior guys will generally receive a Tripline (that they have specifically bid for) whilst the least senior will probably receive a Blindline (effectively a company-generated random roster). I joined in May and had a BL in June / July (July being my first non-training roster) and have been awarded a Tripline in August. My July roster had a period of 9 consecutive days off (including a full weekend) and a total of 14 days off. All other weekends were duty days. In August I bid for a TL because I desperately wanted two weekends off, one for a wedding and the other for a camping trip with the boys. This, I am aware, was an exceedingly long shot! I ended up with a TL containing 10 days off in total (I screwed myself over at stage 2 and bid for too much extra work, duh!). I managed to get the whole weekend that I wanted for the wedding and the saturday for the boys camping trip. I had an early start on that Sunday that I have subsequently traded for a late start duty. I can now make both weekends that I wanted. I joined the company two months ago and effectively now have exactly what I wanted in August. Make of that what you will.
I also had several friends who joined BA four years ago, from easyJet too. The have been at the bottom of the seniority list (bottom five!) for that whole time. That is undoubtedly not a great recipe for enjoying five years of work, I admit. However, there is now continuous expansion planned (average 100 per year, if all goes well) and within two months I find myself already forty places off the bottom of the list. I you were to join within the next two to three years then I don't imagine you will experience stagnating seniority at all.
At easyJet there was absolutely no human interface to the leave system. It was like it or lump it with absolutely no comeback whatsoever if you wanted to move leave or talk to a manager about needing days off for a special occasion. BA pre-allocated all my 2011 leave as we joined after the leave bidding window. I called rostering, expecting to be told to PFO. After about 30 seconds they had moved all my leave to my requested weeks with absolutely no questions asked. This experience alone should tell you all you need to know. At easyJet the only way to have achieved this would have been to buy 51% of the company's shares!
All in all I am exceedingly happy with the decision I made to move to BA from easyJet. The flying at easy was hard work made bearable by some outstanding crews. That aspect of things is the same at BA but it is complemented by a far better work / life balance. I no longer fear being worked into an early grave!
I'm not looking back...