B.M.R.R....
I think that's a pretty fair assessment.
You rightly mention "the new dawn of FTL changes and rostering practices".....IMHO that new dawn is a two edged sword for many prospective DEPs. Anyone planning on joining needs to be aware that the consequences of changes to the rostering system "Formerly Known as Bidline"
are only just making themselves apparent to the end users....It's a long and complicated story but Bidline has changed radically from the animal it was even a year back and even the most senior are now finding that it's increasingly difficult to protect time off/lifestyle...I'd certainly caution taking advice about BA rosters from anyone who
used to work for BA, even if they left the company relatively recently.
The good news for prospective joiners is that judging by conversations I've had downroute or at LHR quite a few senior'ish pilots are planning on taking part time or leaving if they are financially in a position to do so. The bad news is that many full time short haulers seem to be struggling to maintain any sort of "quality" home life - the introduction of "full EASA" across the board later this year is just going to add to the fun and games across
all fleets....
Certainly many colleagues in my peer group ( mostly those who joined in the late 80's/early 90's as DEPs) are now planning on retiring in the next year or two, even those who are already on part time contracts. I think what's going to happen overall is that some of the extremely senior will hang on for the glory in being on page one of a Status list, the juniors will hang on in the hope of being elevated into a more comfortable position/fleet replacing the significant amount of "attrition" that may happen in the main from the middle order seniority in Long Haul........
( P.S. I promise to stop editing now..)