"The skills set once required to sit in the front office of an airliner are not difficult to come by anymore"

I don't buy it. 12 years on the 727, which was around about the time you were born, and 4 years on the 757/767, the high tech machine, and I'll tell ya it's not that different from the standpoint of needing quality operaters in the front seats.

The job may not be, today, what you expected it to be....what you needed it to be. I'll agree that things have gone downhill and the bar was lowered. I just don't agree that downhill slide will continue into lowly busdriverdom. It can still be a six figure job working half the month. The majors are starting to recall and hire. Labor wants it's share of the upswing. Time will tell but I still have hope for the future.

I'm just not ready to write it off as a wasted career yet nor willing to discourage folks from pursuing it...so long as they are educated as to the ups and downs.