Clarification
Raven :
You are questioning why someone might be concerned about 10 years to command.
I know that if you joined in 1991 and if you did not make command before ASL you probably did 10 years in the right seat (FO from Day 1) Those before you spent on average less than five years, and many of them are still here after 15 years in the left seat and now several extensions making 17.....20 years in the left seat on A scales. If we go to 65 soon they could see 27 or 30 years in the left seat.
So I ask you Raven : How long will you be in the left seat with R55 vs R65 ?
There is no way that anyone who joined after 2000 can hope to make anywhere near the kind of career earnings of anyone joining prior to 1999-2000. You would not earn that even if you make Captain in the next 3-5 years. It also gets exponentially worse the longer after 1999-2000 that you get hired.
Age 65 is a bad deal for any current SO/FO as it would mean you would make only slightly more money (in some cases less) than under the current contract (assuming people stop taking extensions!) It was a bad deal even before this current downturn. With the downturn it only makes the issue that much worse. Do the math. As you get farther from a DOJ of 2000 you will spend more and more time at the FO level. Our long haul airline can only expand so far. Once that stops then career progression stops. Add in the 5 year cycle of downturns and you will have a lot of career FOs. Adding in age 65 only means that they will make about the same as current contract only giving up ten more years of their life to get it.
I know that a lot of senior Pilots want to extend a few years. Fair enough, but let's not sell the farm to get something that for most Pilots (as SOs and FOs out number captains 3 to 1) will not benefit from. Do we really want to go to 65 ? Why don't we structure the new deal around retirement at 60 ?
When we all joined, it was a given you would retire at 55. If you wanted to work on, then it would be on the outside. Anyone who thought otherwise and is now reaching 55 (and I am amazed at how many do think otherwise) you gambled and unfourtunately your horse did not come in.
A contract is still a contract even in HK court's eyes.
I am tired of people telling me that I would or would not want to retire at 55. If I need to work after 55 I will, but not here at BBA. That is not the deal I signed up for. If , down the road the contract is changed I will re-evaluate. I can tell you this, every day I work hard on my arrangements for life after BBA and I will not let myself do 35 years of Ultra Long Haul !!!!! It might be nice to make command sometime before age 60.
Peace out