All this bad news, on top of age 65.

[Salukipilot4590]

Mcain is a zillion years old and Hillary is, well a chick. We are all doomed.

Thats why we have the O!

Obama '08!

 

[PCL_128]

Then why not discriminate even further and make the retirement age 50, so that these pilots that you for some reason believe are entitled to "move up" at the expense of someone else's career, can do so even earlier?

First, it's not discrimination. The Supreme Court already ruled on that. Second, what you suggest would be just as bad as increasing the retirement age. It's still changing the rules in the middle of the game, and one group benefits over another.

 

[learflyer]

I wonder what was the percentage of airline pilots that voted for the current administration. oh well the captain always goes down with the ship, and he usually takes the crew with him. good luck.

The ones driving the big a$$ suv's with the "W" on the back. Don't forget the je$u$ fish bumper stickers.

 

[WildBlue]

Hey, PCL. Didn't they "change the rules of the game" back in the '50's. Besides, if you want to retire at 60, who in blazes is stopping you?

You aren't even thirty, yet, and you talk like this is the defining moment of your career. Let AT go out, and that, instead, WILL be the defining moment.

You need to let it go. You'll feel entirely better. Besides, what do you think is going to happen now? They going to change it back. Let it go.

 

[belchfire]

Whaaaaa!

You fail to have come to grips with the fact that there really aren't that many good jobs left in the business anyway. Take your beating like a man and learn to live on your RJ paycheck...

Those guys get to keep their jobs if they want them. I don't know what makes you think you're entitled to one of them anyway.

 

[Smarta$$]

This new law keeps FO's in the right seat 5 years longer and prevents people from moving to a legacy for an additional five years. And now it will cause furloughs (likely) that would not have otherwise happened because retirements would have made up for capacity reductions and mergers that will (likely) happen. All the while postponing our pay increases into the future. Which is lost time and money that can not be recuperated at the end of our careers.

This is a hardship that the senior 60 year olds never had to endure.

 

[JoeMerchant]

First, it's not discrimination. The Supreme Court already ruled on that. Second, what you suggest would be just as bad as increasing the retirement age. It's still changing the rules in the middle of the game, and one group benefits over another.

1. One group always benefits over another in this game....that's the way it works.....

2. The beginning of this game didn't have an age 60 rule....it was changed in the middle TO AGE 60....

3. Doesn't matter....it isn't going back to 60....

4. An added bonus of the new law is it will delay your upgrade......:laugh:

5. You can always go back to Gulfstream....there won't be a delay in upgrading there....or maybe PNCL....I hear they are hiring street captains....:laugh:

 

[CitationUltra]

I would suggest the biggest 3 detriments to the piloting career recently would be: 1) the internet, 2) bankruptcy judges, and 3) the price of oil.

In the late 90's, airlines foolishly lost control of their pricing abilities by trying to circumvent travel agents, with the promotion of sites like orbitz and travelocity. It actually started allowing market competition for ticket prices, which overall is a good thing, but bad for pilot contracts that were based on previous profit margin models.

During the post 9/11 wave of bankruptcies, sympathetic judges allowed extremely weak companies to continue to survive, even giving them unfair competitive advantages. This led to a domino effect of all the other airlines practically being forced to slash compensation just to be able to compete and survive. I believe that had United and/or USAirways been allowed to fail, yes, many jobs would have been lost, but there wouldn't have been an oversupply of seats on the market, profit margins would have remained more stable, and the pilot career would have remained intact.

And finally, every time the airlines seem to have adjusted their operations to adapt to the latest market conditions, oil prices keep spiking. Not the airlines' fault, but we'll all pay for it. Blame the price of oil on either record world demand, speculators looking for a good bet after the housing market collapse, or Bush sucks, your choice.

Regardless of the reasons, this career has always been an unstable one, and always will be.

Well put.