I think you may have missed the last several years of articles about people leaving/switching jobs to have a better work/life balance. I even jumpseated on a DAL flight and the Captain (in his low 30s) was talking about this. There are ton of young new hires, and a LOT of them don’t want to work 20+ days a month. They simply want to be fairly compensated for a job they love, and have a good mix of off-time and pay.

You also have a number of people who retired from the military, are collecting their retirement checks, and would rather have more days off than on (for once in their life), and still pull in a decent paycheck, which is bolstered by their retirement. They might also be sick of having a ton of responsibility at work.

So, no….not everyone’s goal is to be a Captain.