The market has changed significantly - the days of retiring at 55 is simply laughable even if you wanted to.
The BA days of earning £150k+ will become history, and we will look at today as a rosy period for BA flightdeck.
When BA drops T&Cs, everyone moves down a notch and even BA has to maintain a competitive position of sorts. That said, its offer to new cadets is very fair in the current environment and should be praised.
Those entering BA going forwards, however, have to be realistic but it's still the best place in the South of England to work and is just on the same downward trend as the industry overall.