There is a VERY important theme in these Posts:
Originally Posted by
RoyHudd
Belated apology to Maximum Pete. You were indeed too subtle for me and my dim brain.
From chatting to a pal today, it seems that certain pension-rich 60+-year olds are happily operating long haul flights for BA with no view to retiring now and helping out others. Very sad. Selfish people. There were some at bmi too, evidently not yourself.
Originally Posted by
Fly747
I'm sorry Huddy boy but I really have to reply to that; I'm an older pilot and not being selfish at all, certainly no more selfish than you sound.
I have a family to support, kids in uni, elderly parents and only a few years left to work before that is it for 20+ years of retirement. Many of you meanwhile have years of employment ahead of you and if the airlines don't bounce back you can do something else.
I still enjoy my job. I'm living this life for me and mine, not for you and yours. I owe you nothing. Good luck to all; I ain't going nowheres voluntarily. Nothing sad in it at all.
Originally Posted by
Rt Hon Jim Hacker MP
I had always planned on jacking it in at 60. Life changed drastically a few years ago and it'll have to be 65 now. If I could go at 60 I would. But it won't be happening.
There is also the inconvenient gap of two years between compulsory retirement at 65 and getting my state pension at 67.
Back to the topic. Good luck to all at BA and their appointed reps tasked with sorting this out as fairly as possible.
How can someone be labeled as 'pension rich'? Has anyone looked into what has been happening to pension funds so far this year? I think that a lot of people's pension planning is being rather shaken up at the moment.
I have been at the end of "you younger guys have lots of time ahead of you to build up a pension somewhere else" comment when turfed out due to redundancy (those exact words ere used to me personally) so I can understand that end of the problem. I am now older and I can understand
Fly747's and
Rt Hon Jim Hacker MP's situations. Probably the most important point is
Rt Hon Jim Hacker MP's "...the inconvenient gap of two years between compulsory retirement at 65 and getting my state pension at 67." That is not only a problem that older pilots will be facing shortly but with the way the industry appears to be going as a whole, those in their 20s now could well be banging their heads against exactly that problem, or an even bigger gap, in future years.
I have been
VERY fortunate to have continued flying 'as normal' (although nothing is normal now!). Taxiing past rows of aeroplanes parked and sealed up at almost every airport in several countries and walking through empty terminals with everything closed and almost no lights on, some even becoming dusty after having been thriving terminals only a short while ago, is very, very, very sobering (and weird). If you haven't been able to see it, you probably don't really want to. This problem is much, much bigger than any one of your airlines, no matter how big they are. Best not to become lonely individualists bickering about what someone else might or might not be doing. A lot of pilots are going to be in very 'fragile' situations. Trying to understand each other and if possible support each other would be the most helpful way ahead.