140 hours of credit is only realistic if you dont plan on spending any time at home. I average about 100 credit hours a month and typically have 12 or 13 days off. Open time is paid at 150% or 200% if scheduling marks it as critical. Based on how many we have in training I think the 18 to 24 month upgrade is accurate for people walking in the door today.
Trip rigs have padded my check quite a bit. Take your total time away from base, divide that by 4 and thats your minimum credit. 80 hours away from base will result in 20 hours of pay even if that 4 day trip blocks significantly less. Lately our schedules have a lot of 30 hour sits so the trip rig comes in handy.
Our healthcare is pretty good in my opinion. If you have a family its something you should look at more closely. Ive heard of guys having kids and paying less than 20 dollars out of pocket, the insurance covered everything.
Commuting is obviously a huge issue. Right now we only have IAD and ORD with the possibility of opening a third base.... Somewhere. If you can live in domicile your quality of life will significantly improve. If you live near one of PSAs bases they might be a better fit because commuting is awful.