It has been mentioned here before, by myself, and more recently by others, but I think it merits repeating; not everybody got the windfall of five more years as a senior wide-body captain.

Indeed, many older pilots were rewarded with five more years in the right seat (along with their younger colleagues), from which many over-60er's will retire.

And many over-60 international F/O's have been relegated almost exclusively to the IRO seat, because so many international captains are over 60. This situation has actually created a minor windfall, of sorts, to the more junior -- but under-60 -- international F/O's, who now enjoy the "super seniority" to bid international F/O trips over their more senior over-60 international F/O colleagues. (And many junior under-60 F/O's use this opportunity to defecate upon the more senior over-60 IRO's because a] they think they are superior to them because they're occupying a window seat; and b] they hate the fact that the IRO is over 60, and still on the seniority list ahead of them -- as if any of them are going to retire the day they turn 60.)

But another important fact that seems to be overlooked is that all pilots, from the top of the seniority list to the bottom, actually enabled the age change by voting "Yes" for concession after concession after concession in the last decade.

Remember, the original Age 60 rule was adopted by the CAA, in cahoots with airline management, as a cost-saving measure to run the senior pilots out the door, and avoid having to train them on the new jet aircraft that were coming on line.

Think about it... If the senior pilots at all the major airlines were still making the TOS wages, still enjoying the benefits, and still accruing the pensions that they were prior to 9/11, do you really think airline managements would want them to still be hanging around until they were 65?