Nugpot,
I understand what you are saying about keeping older people on at a much higher payscale than someone further down the list.However airlines that do not adapt will fall by the wayside.
Look at what has happened to your majors, have not they all gone into chapter 11 except for American?
When they come out (if they do) they all without exception pay vastly lower salaries then before they went in.
How can American compete with that? By reducing costs or increasing revenue or both thats the only way.
Something has got to give and with the price of fuel soaring the easy way is to reduce salaries and pensions.
Airlines will restructure, pay less and like it or not it will happen to everyone.
So your utopian view that the status quo will remain the same is just not valid.
My own Airliine (in SE Asia) has restructured and pay is now very much productivity driven. Pesonaly I do not have a problem with that, but the only pension I get is what I make for myself, compare that to the huge pension debt that the US airlines have to service.
As I said it is unsustainable.
So what will happen is that the split between new captains and older ones will shrink and pilots will have to retire later to fund their retirement.
You and I got into this game 20 years too late .
