I gotta throw the BS flag on this.

There is no comfort zone in the mid seniority. Most of us like our jobs, but are working to de-couple from mother D. Some FOs I fly with are older than Timbo, some are younger than me. Most of us fall into the 45-54 year old group.

We know what it was like to be compensated well -with money left over after the month ended. We also know that now after funding our 401k's, we are mostly paycheck to paycheck...some are struggling with kids in college. Our character has been built...sometimes after making decisions that seemed right when times were good.

Some of my peers try to take a glass half full approach to life, others take a glass half empty. I flew with a guy recently who is a partner in a large live music bar venue...as his retirement plan. I flew with another who is financially upside down across the board. Another that is getting his HVAC certification as plan B. Personally, I feel all of their pain.

The common theme with each of them is that they have come to terms with their places in life and are all making efforts to be able to walk when the time comes. If it came tomorrow, I have faith in each of them to do the right thing.

I have flown with Captains who are scanning the horizon for a flying job away from DAL after being here for a long time and others that are lining up their retirements as we speak. It is definitely a mixed bag, but I dont fly with too many pilots that are just plain hunky dory with where we are right now.

You want to P.O. a reserve 777 captain? Just point to a SWA jet and tell him that it is likely that the FO makes more than he does.