I've been at my corporate pilot position for ten years, worked maybe a quarter of the holidays and average 120-140 days away per year--pretty close to the average airline guy holding a line. Pay is MD-88 DL based on guarantee, no O/T, I have a pension and medical fully paid and now 4 weeks vacation.
But, that's not the point, the point is not everyone will finish their careers was T7 captains without ever being furloughed, merged, or medical'd out. I found 121 as tiring or worse than corporates, I found it "deadly" boring and repetitive. Pax have zero respect for crews which is certainly not the case here. A friend just accepted a position with the question, "give me a number" which was promptly accepted. At an age of most 121, major or regional, guys are junior F/Os, he's in the 200K+ money.
GF