Originally Posted by
Justdoinmyjob
Nobody "benevolently" retires, regardless of industry. It is incentives that make it worthwhile to go before you have to. My own Dad, used to say, "The day they give me a piece of paper with the right numbers on it, is the day I go." That day eventually came, and he promptly did not let the door hit him in the butt.
Shack! That was my point. Both Johnso29 and 80ktsClamp chose to leave out some pertinent details regarding retirements at Delta. You also pointed out some reasons for fNWA pilots to retire prior to 65 (I was aware that there were some financial issues that would benefit some fNWA pilots to retire prior to 65).
It's akin to pointing to AMR's retirements in the second half of 2011 and saying, 'see, many pilots are retiring prior to reaching 65'.
Given a choice, many (most) pilots would like to keep drawing paychecks until the day they die while crossing 40W. Safety be damned.