reduce retirement age now!

[thewwIIace]

as i said in a previous post (but got moved) reduce the retirement age by 5 years and that will eleviate alot! it will get rid of the old guys on big money so helps the company out and secondly helps out the younger guys on seniority with new families out and gives them a longer future within one company. i have only a few years to go but i would bow out gracefully and thank my stars for the career i have had. if people stuffed up on the way with ex wives etc, tough on them, this idea helps both companies and fellow colleagues

[MaximumPete]

A good idea, especially as people are beginning to have healthy pensions due to rule changes made some years ago regarding pension transfers when changing companies.

As per my posting on the Go issue can the "fat-cat" ex BA pensioners keeping other folk out of work reconsider their morals about continuing when some poor s*d with a wife, kids and a mortgage is joining the dole queue? :rolleyes:

[PilotsPal]

Most modern UK pension schemes allow for voluntary early retirement. You will of course receive a significantly lower pension if you choose to do this, with significantly lower benefits for any spouse/dependent children in the event of your death.

Those who belong to the defined contribution (as opposed to defined benefit) type of scheme would be extraordinarily ill advised to retire early if they didn't have other means of financial support.

[Jetdriver]

Well they say "you can't buy experience", but obviously you can ! Senior Pilots are more expensive because they have shown a high degree of loyalty. They also have the levels of experience that the employers like, and like to project to their customers. A lot of young and relatively inexperienced Pilots might be cheaper ( might !), but might also fail to impress the regulatory authorities and the insurance companies.

Those "younger guys with new families", will themselves be looking to advance up the seniority lists to the levels that you feel should no longer exist. Your comment that reducing the retirement age would give new Pilots " a longer future" seems contradictory.

You also seem rather unsympathetic to people with ex-wives who have "stuffed up along the way". These things are all part of life and may well be a factor in individuals deciding when they want to retire.

Curtailing the retirement age by 5 years may provide an instant boost to the promotion prospects of a group of Pilots within a company, however rather like selling the family jewels it only works once ( well maybe 7 times if you do it in 5 year increments and eventually have a retirement age of 20 !). My observation of careers with short tenancies, such as professional sportspeople is that the rate for the job becomes very expensive. That would seem to negate the companies savings.

No ,those young pilots with their very expensive families will just have to work their way up like the rest of us. When they reach the pinnacle of the salary lists they will soon change their views ( if indeed these are their views).

[Gypsy]

thewwIIace - reduce the retirement and that will aleeviate a lot!!!!

Who for?

You have to also consider the chaps in the late 40's and 50's who are working their way towards a planned retirement. Bit if a selfish suggestion if I may say so.

[Right Way Up]

I suggest you look into the effects of retiring 5 years early. OK if you plan 30 years before, but not if you do it now!

[exeng]

WW2ace,

Can we just think for a moment before we start tapping on the keyboard.

Removing those people from the top will no doubt require a considerable amount of 'Command training' for the Aces like you. So assuming that the airline is prepared to go to the expense of this training who will carry it out I wonder?

Will it be the trainers, who normally are the older more senior types?

It isn't going to happen.


Regards
Exeng

[soggyboxers]

thewIIace
You're obviously all heart. Good for you being a lucky sod and having everything in place. You do your bit and retire early, then go get a life for yourself. :mad:

[Lou Scannon]

Well, Ace, by all means take the steps right now that will enable you to retire at age 50 and therefore stop being a burden to younger pilot's careers. Please, however, don't try to force that decision on those in their fifties who simply cannot bring their retirement dates forward without savage economies.
The period of unemployment that many junior guys are now facing has been a way of life for many over fifties. That is why they need the income for the last few years to enhance their pension funds.

I agree entirely however that no company should consider employing the ex BA 55 year plus guys who are usually on a pension that exceeds most charter airlines pay.

[Stan Woolley]

Many recent retirees will have planned for retiring at age sixty(BA excepted).There are many who are now flying for fun beyond this age.

If it turns out as bad as some are predicting, which personally I doubt,I would hope those pilots who can afford it might pack it in,buy a Cub and go fly on nice sunny days.

[411A]

No they wouldn't Flanker, because they would complain that it was "too expensive" or....

I have a CV here from a DAL retired guy with a house in Florida, a house in Vancouver BC, and a BE-58P to fly between the two, and he STILL is looking for a job at age 64.
Some guys just NEVER want to give it up.
Then, if you did (or were able) to hire them, they would complain...."we never did it that way at Delta".

OTOH, there are the guys who worked for an airline for twenty plus years, only to have it go bankrupt, with no pension whatsoever.
Braniff comes to mind. Of course, the execs of these failed carriers never have to worry, Harding Lawrence (Braniff, again) retained his three million dollar home in Acapulco and a nice payoff to run it. As for the pilots, twenty arrived at SV with hat in hand, looking for a job. That being said, some of these guys had very expensive mates to support. They just could not give up the tennis club, yacht club....etc.
As for the younger guys now, when they close in toward retirement age, it will be the same song and dance.

[Dockjock]

I'm a young jock myself, and not even at the airline stage yet and even I cringe at the idea of pushing up the retirement age.

Sheesh, a bit like the crown jewels comment above- you can only do it once! A very myopic solution to a problem that is very easy to predict. This is happening now (layoffs, tough job market) the same was as in the early 90's, and it will happen again around 2010-2013. We just have to weather the storm here folks and not go selling our futures.

I myself am looking forward to the time when I have a nice income, great schedule, fat pension on the horizon, and a measure of job security. I certainly won't feel sorry for the young ones who think I should get out for the sake of their wife's credit card bills! In case you're forgetting, most 50+ pilots have been through this type of economy 2-3 times in their lives already.

[Kubota]

411A...

Most about you is known, including your former occupation and age...

Saying "Some guys just NEVER want to give it up" is the pot calling the kettle black.

Such hypocracy.

toned down

[ 01 October 2001: Message edited by: Kubota ]

[ironbutt57]

Kubota, just what is the sense in your post? why don't you crawl back under the rock you were born under and stay there this time...didn't your "aunt-mommie and uncle-daddy" teach you any manners.....who cares if you know where somebody lives..check into betty ford, or get some helpe SOMEwhere ok?!

[ShyTorque]

Reduce retirement age now?

This has obviously come from someone with financial security well above mine....

The way things are right now with my pension fund and plummeting savings funds, I don't see how I will ever be able to retire; I will probably have to begin stacking supermarket shelves at the age of 60 when I give up flying.

Before you ask, I have been flying for 25 years and I am still with the original Mrs Shytorque. I have only been unemployed twice, once for a week and once for a day between contracts.

Put a foot in my door before the age of 60 and I'll be obliged to stamp on it! :D

ShyT

[Kubota]

IB57, keeping up your usual high standard of repartee', I see.

"senseless post", eh? Just how many of your 820 posts made anyone think?

Go away and rust into oblivion too.