Agent Mulder makes a few good points.
Now my few cents' worth. I'm South African and I can probably claim that we are the world's experts on discrimination.
So, if it is discriminatory to enforce retirement at 60, is it not also discriminatory to enforce retirement at 62, 63, 65 or some other arbitrary age? I know that you are comparing 60 to some other arbitrary standard of 65, but there are various other professions that have no retirement age and some (as pointed out previously ATC's) that retire at 55.
Further, if pilots should be allowed to fly "on condition" past the current 60, should upgrades in your company then not also happen "on condition"? Why not advertise LHS positions in your company and let the best suitably qualified person (written exams, sim performance, interview) get the job without any regard for seniority. Oh, but that would leave room for the company to manipulate command, would it not?
I think that there should be a mandatory retirement age for pilots. I have flown with useless 40 year old captains and perfect 59 year olds, but I have seen the effects of age in the best 59 year old captains (screens on "grill", cockpit speaker on "bullhorn"). I think 60 is a good age to leave the airline. If you can still operate safely, go and fly Part 91 where you can transfer your considerable experience to some newbie or share war stories with your compatriot.
SAA pilots voted recently to increase retirement age to 63. The vote was narrowly won by the pro's, but probably because SAA had been employing 40 year old RHS's for the past few years and they would be lucky if they saw the LHS in under 15 years and would probably need to work to 63 to make financial provision for their retirement.
I have heard a rumour that management might make the 63 rule happen. That has had some unfortunate effects down the line. SA regs forbid command over the border over 60 years. This means that the captains staying after 60 now have to fly domestically. Cape Town seems to be the retirement capital of SA and these guys now all want to move to Cape Town and any more junior captain who wants to live in Cape Town (and there are many who have lived there all their lives) is now buggered.
If this happens, it would also kill the movement from other airlines to SAA, thereby effectively removing opportunities from the bottom of the pile. The SA aviation industry is very small by international standards. Something like 3200 ATPL's and Comm's combined (about 1400 airline pilots) and hiring might come to a complete standstill for 3 years.
Retirement age is probably the second most emotive issue after seniority, and I think that if the industry wants to move into the future, seniority should go where flight engineers and navigators went. When that is done, the 60 year old first officers who could never get command, can vote age 63 in. (For first officers obviously)
Edited to avoid the wrath of the spelling nazis.