Carl,
I just looked at the DAL seniority list and while it doesn't list birthdays, it does list scheduled retirements. Someone who is 50 now would retire sometime in 2023.
Well, out of the top 400, all but about 20 are scheduled to retire before 2023, many within the next 10 years, in fact. I didn't look closely beyond 400 but a quick glance shows this trend continuing into the 600s. Of course, many of those folks have 2021 or 2022 retirement dates.
But whoever told you DAL only has about 100 pilots over 50 is full of sh!t. By the numbers I have, it's at least 500.
When you're talking about 12,000+ pilots, retiring at #9 or #90 won't make much of a difference, IMO.
Where it will make an impact is for the new hires at NWA who were hoping for a 3-year upgrade to DTW DC-9 Captain. An SLI will kill that. But then again, going at it alone in this environment would probably do the same, as well.