All great points. I threw some stuff out on the cargo forum on same subject..won't duplicate it here.
What I will say is living in domicile (albeit Hong Kong) has allowed me to bid reserve and kick back a bit...I realize we use reserves differently than SWA. I flew about 275 this year, will gross about 400k after a few good deals like selling back vacation (twice) and a draft trip (9 day trip). I also dropped a bunch of trips to go ski during the winter and to visit the states in June, so not sure how it all averages out.
Upgrading to the left seat is great. I actually like the international flying long haul with breaks and a nap thrown in. It absolutely ain't for everyone, and I get that. I also did a lot more day flying (with seniority, trip trades, etc) at FedEx year 1-14 than I did the classic night flying. All the stuff guys don't like about night hub turns applies to me as well. I do a little of it now, but its 2-3 nights on 7-9 day trip, so I can live with it. The 5 star hotels and fun stuff to do in places like SGN, SIN, BKK, ICN, and NRT offset that pain a bit. But again--it ain't for everyone.
What I will say about FDX (or a legacy for that matter) is you do get a choice of some things besides AMs and PMs. You won't be humping all the time, and you won't be junior forever either. If you want a nice 1 leg day stroll to the west coast, with an 8-9 am departure the next day back to MEM you can get those too (I lived on those for years...). If you want to go to Brazil or Paris, you can. If you like weekend layovers in your hometown, you can get those now and then too. Its better than SWA, and its worse than SWA....depending on what can hold and your desires.
Money comes and goes, but we will have 2.5 year guys getting 250-300k as 757 captains. Previous low I remember was 4 year 727 guys during our postal hiring wave in early 2000s. Junior WB is now the MD11 and we have a couple 5 year guys who can hold it. 275-350k is easily achievable on that jet.
The point you need to understand is trip and duty rigs don't make our trips "less efficient". I am still getting a minimum of 6 hours day--whether I am at the hotel pool, visiting Normandy, skiing in Reno, or sitting in the cockpit. Internationally the average is 7-8 hours a day...so it doesn't COST you to not fly at FDX like it might at other companies.
Lots of friends both places. Either is a destination airline. Enjoy what you do wherever you decide to go...