SFO in the UK around £4000 after tax, Capt around £5000. Blame the tax man for that.
easy jet needed to change - when people joined back in the day they were taking a gamble - for taking that gamble they were offered £25K golden hellos and 20000 shares - which I know some still have offering them 5 figure dividend payments each year and have a worth of £280K today. Back then they asked people to INVEST their experience and opportunism in the company.
Now the airline is extremely successful and offers a much more stable, guaranteed (as guaranteed as any flying job can be) platform - that means they don't need to give, offer and buy so much. Once a pilot has INVESTED time in the company they will be on the figures above. For sure. In return the pilot is given excellent training, a stable platform to get as worthwhile flying experience as you like (we don't just do RV'd ILSs in an easy Airbus to quell another myth - we can do raw data, man thrust, visuals, circling, foul weather (even harder in an airbus), long days, long blocks, plenty of tech issues, huge, varied workforce, multinational operation etc. etc.). Once they have some experience they get on to experienced pilot's pay. It's a more than fair substitute for flying cessnas, senecas, trilanders or TPs. It's a targeted career structure - one which I've been extremely grateful to have. It's the same MON have offered minus the job security but plus some money.
It's just my opinion.
That said, it's extremely satisfying slam dunking the ill informed's myths.