aa73,
Might have been me was in JFK twice in June. Joined BA at 28 on the 747 a few years ago. Was skipper on Airbus before that. Not trying to be cool/bragging etc. In Europe it's not all that unusual. I finished flight school and got my first commercial (turboprop) job at 21. 7 years to short haul command and then with a good bit of luck longhaul f/o the same year.
BA f/o's get 2 stripes for the first 4 years in the company regardless of previous experience, so that seems to confuse some crews downroute...
Edited to add: just looked at the date you posted.. was in your country, but not JFK