Compassion and humility are certainly not on the agenda, Jox, as it concerns pilots who get themselves into a fix, even though advised beforehand that perhaps they had better look a little more deeply before leaping off the short end of the pier.
There are HUNDREDS of pilots in the USA that previously worked for major carriers, noticed that future prospects were not as they anticipated, and actually DID something about it.
They left (early out), collected a lump sum, and moved on to other carriers with better prospects, many as DEC's.
Many went to the middle east or south/south east asia, and as a result retired quite nicely.
Others were not so fortunate.
They hung on, 'hoping' for the best.
Now that the situation has turned ugly, they are crying the blues.
NO one in aircarrier flying is going to hold your hand.
You have to be mostly self-relient.
To do otherwise is a self defeating proposition.
Period.
Those are the facts, like it or not.
And, I suspect many don't.
Just the way it is.
Now, on the other hand, I do have compassion for folks that were at (for example) the original Braniff.
There, the company closed up suddenly, no salaries, no job...and no pension.
A totally different story than UAL/NWA/DAL.
Airline pilots everywhere had better have a serious look at their specific company prospects, and if they don't like what they see, act accordingly.
This is done in many other professions, airline pilots are no different.