A Lusthansa captain I know makes around 17,000 EUROs/month...NET that is. Do the math, it's almost $400k gross/year. Also, several european countries pay 13 and even 14 months per year (basically you get double salary in December and in some cases June, so in those countries you'd have to multiply the monthly salary accordingly).

These discussions are pointless unless you compare the cost of living. The Euro/Dollar exchange at 1.3 makes it look more than it really is. Having said that, he lives quite comfortably on that pay