Its sad to say, but the aviation industry as we knew it in the the years before the mid nineties is has been pretty much destroyed. Glory years for those that remember it, especially the lifestyle and t&c's. Airlines always led precarious lives and often went to the wall, but at least you were well looked after, with some notable exceptions. MON is the one of the last legacies to face up to the realpolitik of aviation in the 21st century, where, air transport has no more cachet than any other means of pushing people or cans of beans from one place to another. The rewards are still there for the pilots in this brave new world, but they will have to work longer and harder to achieve them. If, by the time you are 35, you can achieve 100k a year in a quality loco, that's still around 4 times average wage. It will buy you a decent lifestyle, not as luxurious as the old school BA contract, but good enough. And if you come to this (and many other) industry expecting to be treated as anything other than a number on an accountants spreadsheet, prepare for disappointment. Although I have a lot of time for BALPA, particularly those folk that sacrifice their time to do the CC work, it is becoming clearer by the year that Big Balpa are not giving the support and leadership that we (and our 1%) deserve. Unfortunately, until a viable alternative appears, they are the only game in town. The more of us that pay the 1% and support the union, the more we will benefit from the solidarity that affords.