What are these old and excellent Ts & Cs that are oft referred to but never really detailed?
Flag carrier, "Then" is early 90's ( Yes, an outlier but a job some still aspire to)
Then: Average Senior Line Captain earning a gross salary that would be well above 200K sterling in today's money.
Now: Probably average well below 200K ( not pleading poverty, but ties in with previous comment made by 172 driver that " ...gross salary that has not evolved in line with market prices".)
Then: Senior Captains retiring on Final Salary pensions of close to, if not greater, 100K.
Now: Those joining now probably won't get a pension anywhere close to even half or even a third of that.
Then: Long haul pilots flying around 500- 600 hours per annum (sometimes at the expense of longer slips, which to be fair could have there advantages, depending on where you were and who you were with....), but even so more days at home back in the day than nowadays.
Now: More like 800-900 per annum now. Vast majority of slips now 24/48 hours (which to be fair again suits some)
Then: Slip hotels generally used to be 4 star or better in city centre/on beach as appropriate.
Now: More likely to Prem Inn or similar standard at airport or outskirts of town.
Plus lots of other little non financial nuggets that I'd list under "conditions", such as car park a short walk from crew report ( gone), a uniform stores that you could actually walk into without an appointment and pick up items as required (gone), admin staff who had the time to help out with admin (gone), rather than being so hasseled they only have time to point you towards the nearest PC....
Now I'm not saying any of the above was sustainable into the noughties but you did ask what had changed!!!...