what percentage of non pilots do you believe get a 15% DC? And as I said, it isn’t a tremendous help to junior people although you can take money out early if you are willing to pay the tax penalty for early withdrawal - not a wise move generally, but certainly possible. But there is a reason that tax advantaged plans like 401Ks and 403Bs were created for retirement investments and financial advisors recommend them. By deferring taxes you can grow wealth quite a bit quicker than you would otherwise and by taking the money direct into a 401k you don’t add to your tax burden today.

But it is part of compensation and it is directly linked to your total earnings without being directly linked to your current taxation. And unlike so many companies who only match or even only partially match your contributions, most major airlines do make direct contributions.

and more important yet, it is YOUR money, not the airline managements money - at least after you are fully vested. History is full of traditional pension plans that suddenly disappeared in bankruptcy, leaving many people (including pilots) with little more of their promised retirement than they could squeeze out of the government pension guarantee guys - which was a h€|| of a lot less than their promised pensions.

Too many pilots - imho - underrate the value of these earnings, and earnings they are since they are directly related to your hours worked x rate.