There have been a lot of good posts regarding this subject. But you know what? It's all way above our collective pay grades. It's out of our hands and what will happen will happen. But on a personal level, I believe that there are going to be some profound changes made to accomodate the new age, whatever it turns out to be.

Medical- Anyone who thinks that the medical standards aren't going to change dramatically is deluding themselves. Da feds are going to want to look at you harder because you are going to go longer. And it's going to bite a lot of people right between the cheeks.

Regs- Da feds probably won't allow a couple of 64 year old geezers fly the same cockpit. The rules are going to have to change. That will add scheduling problems for our companies to deal with. And if it makes scheduling hard who generally also pays in the end? Bend over, folks.

Simple fairness- I've spent the past 30 years gearing myself to an age 60 retirement. Everything that my wife and I have done we've done with that in mind. So now that I'm 55 they're going to change the friggin' rules? Sorry, that's crap. I've been told that the FedEx contract is tied to age 60. I'm not an expert on that kind of stuff but I sure hope that that is correct. At least the company would have to renegotiate the new retirement age. But if it isn't I can't help but feel like I'm getting royally screwed. I feel bad for the legacy guys who've taken the big hits. But this whole change in age 60 has been very poorly thought out, in my opinion. Desperation is not a very good reason to make such a profound change.

So who benefits? I think that it's overwhelmingly in favor of the companies. Think about it. They get to keep us longer (less hiring, less training). For those companies who still have their A plans, those plans would be INSTANTLY grossly overfunded. And unless something has changed, management can go back and dip into the excess cash that is contained in the A plans. Carl Ichan did it at TWA when he bought us.

This whole thing sucks but I think it's going to happen. And I also think that a lot of people will regret it sooner rather than later.