Craggenmore, the European contracts at EZY/EZS are indeed excellent. However, don't dress them up as more than they are. Many airlines offer wrap days, or build in a days off entitlement into any period of 'leave'. So your 86 days, whilst very good, will not dwarf other airlines by as much as is implied.
Also, am I not right in thinking that there is no pension if you are on the Madrid contract? So that huge payout the captain got in MAD equates to pretty much the same as how much a captain would put into his pension pot (including company contributions) each year at my base. He will also get tax breaks on those payments, whereas no doubt in MAD the captains bonus will be fully taxed??
These are the kind of reasons I started the thread. With regards to BA, I want the facts, not a dressed up version of events.