It’s absurd in most countries I’m sure. The OP said
> airline pilots are paid more than programmers here
(emphasis mine)
I just gave one geographical example where I believe that to be true. I don’t think it is true everywhere, nor do I think OP meant that.
It seems clear he means in Europe from his preceding sentence, where I think it is absurd ( including in France).
With “is absurd”, do you mean that the statement isn’t true, or that you think that pilot’s should not be earning more than software engineers?
> I’m not saying they are perfect sources, but they do align with anecdotal datapoints.
So you say, but that's definitely not true for me (who lives in the States and Ireland). In fact, it's an absurd claim to me.