CALFO;
I have to disagree. You are looking at the UAL world through the rose-colored l-CAL glasses you have subsisted in the last 3 years. There is no system growth at UAL. There is shrinkage. Pilots don't all retire off the 777 and 400. Many retire off narrow bodies, and a not insignificant number will retire as wide body FO's.
I think the displacements will more than make up for the retirements for a while. 6 months to a year. The few vacancy bids will be on wide body captain, and 737 bases that the company plans on growing quickly. I do believe one or two 737 bases will end up with WAY too many Captains. DEN probably being the biggest as many UAL pilots will bump there.
400 retirements a year/12,000 pilots is only 3.3%. This year there are only about 300 planned retirements. 2.5% this year.