I have several friends that are engineers at railroads. All of them were either Flight Engineers or Loadmasters in the Air Force.

Retirements at airlines are very good at the majors. American, Delta and United contribute 15-16% of your pay into a 401k. FedEx and UPS I believe still have a pension system. Regional airlines are not good, typically 2-10% match for 401k. Personally I'd rather have the 401k than pension.