That's got to be one of the funniest things I've read in a very long time. The incentive package was the reason for most of DAL's early retirements; most, not some. And the way that the frozen Northwest pension is structured, there are additional financial incentives for fNWA pilots to retire prior to 65.

I suppose that sudden surge of AMR retirements had nothing to do with the company being on the verge of bankruptcy? If that's the case, why the sudden increase and decline in retirements at AMR centered on their BK filing?

In a nutshell, you are saying that financial incentives have zero impact on pilot retirements. Rather than acknowledge that financial incentives have a significant impact on retirements, you chose to portray the clearly demonstrated linkage as grasping at straws. I guess you're now going to say that pilots are more happy at United than Delta?