Count of Monte Bisto........We would always be concerned about why someone has not made captain by age 54. That said, there are clearly a lot of very rational explanations as to why that may be the case.
Thank you for that explanation, now I understand 
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I am in a similar 'boat' to the OP, and I have been beating myself up for years about this.
I am always professional, and stayed competant and good at my job by working hard. But I started flying at 35, after deciding on a career change. I left the first airline after 5 years because my family life was suffering from the long distance commuting I had to do. The next airline was fine for many years but went bust around the time I would have been changing seats.
An application to an A330 operator was going well until they saw my passport and DoB........
I took a temporary freighter job - many thanks Tom - and then had to move house for the next airline, but that went bust a year later after the parent company had been in business for 178 years ! The next airline was the main UK legacy carrier and I had passed day 1 of the assessment, when the Covid lockdown came in, literally overnight. So that was that.
I have since tried to get other flying jobs and train driver jobs and signaller jobs but all to no avail. Now at least I know why - it's simply age discrimination, not a lack of competance or ability or experience. FWIW, friends and family are always very surprised about this pilot age discrimination.
This is a great shame, since I for one am not the typical fat older person. I keep fit and do a 10km run every week. I am wiry, have a low BMI, do daily exercises, and have a Class 1 medical. I am not your typical slow, unhealthy, unfit old fat guy who has let theselves go with a beer gut and bad knees.
We had to sell our house and downsize when my last employer went bust, and I could not pay the mortgage or get another flying job.
What really annoyed me was after being rejected, I decided to volunteer for the life boats. I have been around small boats on the sea all my life, am thin and fit and swim like a fish etc, etc. and thought I could as least do something useful, but guess what - they said I was too old !! And that was without even seeing me. A one legged person a year younger than I was would be useless in a life boat but since I was over the arbittrary age limit, they would not consider me.
I won't get my pension until 67 - years away yet - but these companies won't employ older people, so what do we do ? 
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Last edited by Uplinker; 18th Mar 2024 at 12:48.