Hi NMNF,
Great posting and nice to know you realise how good it was in the past. Today, sure it's not nearly as good, especially in the lower end of things. However, it's a different ballgame and the airlines have to really compete to survive - not just pay lip-service to competition as in pooled routes or protected rights that nobody else could access as was the case before de-regulation.
Most of us would love to have had the career that you've had and may you have many and fruitful days ahead - hopefully also remembering those good times that we're not too likely to experience. Despite the changes for the worse, most of us still love this business and do not consider it a job. It certainly beats stacking shelves and other such jobs that I've done in the past and I hope I never get too complacent about where I am now or forget where I came from. That's not to say that we shouldn't stand up for our collective rights. It's just a different ballgame with a different emphasis now. The Southwests etc have utterly changed life as you guys used to know it and we have to live with the hand we've been dealt.
It would be great if you and your buddies would write up your stories - perhaps like the late gentleman Len Morgan who wrote so eloquently for years for Flying magazine. That might inspire some little kid to try his hand at this game and who knows, some day he might be writing in Pprune about hanging up his goggles and on it would go... It's still a very privileged view of the world that we get and it would be great to pass it on. May you have many years of sundowners watching the world go (rushing) by! Thanks.