A tad harsh perhaps? I remember flying with some of those 55 hanger-on losers with I was flying turbo-shakers. Turned out many of them were ex-EAL and PAA Captains who needed currency for an Ex-Pat job, medical coverage for a family member, or simply some income. They were great guys and I learned a lot from them. They got caught up in a vortex of miasma which they had nothing to do with. The same thing goes for the guys hired at UAL in 99 and up until the day our planes were hi-jacked.
This industry eats its young AND old. There is so much luck involved that anyone who thinks they can safely and deftly maneuver their way through a 30 year career is naive.
When I was young the top three carriers were EAL, PAA and TWA. UAL was small, as was DAL, Western, Republic and American. USAir was a jet national and SWA was a start up with a handful of beater guppies. They actually wanted you to get typed to apply. Who would volunteer for such insanity?
Turns out the joke was on me. No one applied at EAL because of Lorenzo. Everyone knew the bomb was about to go off. Well, many of the guys who DID get hired there later got preferential treatment at UAL and other ALPA carriers. So much for my logic.
Branniff was cool as hell. Great paint, FA's slowly disrobing inflight, visionary upper management but horrible mid level execution. But, they were teetering and Crandall was scheming to kill them.
PDT was the a small gem but they and Empire were vacuumed up by USAIR who was PRINTING money at the time.
CAL (Peoples Express + New York Air + Original CAL + Scabs + who knows else) was a train wreck and only the insane applied there....or so I thought! Those insane guys (mid to late 80's) are now 777 Captains.
When I was furloughed I flew for a 121 Non-Sked / Sked operation. Yes we had some losers, but we had a bunch of GREAT guys who could fly the hell out of the plane who just got caught up in one failed airline after another. Before they knew it they were too old to get on with "A Major" or couldn't afford first year pay after all the setbacks and with kids in college.
The list of crapped out airlines since dereg is long. You see a 55 year old loser, I see a guy who needs a job. Perspective is a great filter.