Too many posts to quote:
RTO only work if you are quick enough to engage them by making the decision to pull the throttles back.
Second, if you want to keep the age where it is, lose the argument about money, or seniority.... Keep it about safety. Nobody in the outside world cares a bit about your finances.
I notice several junior Regional FOs who speak out against mandatory retirement ages in general. Stick around for awhile....you might change your tune. When I was an FO I flew with a bunch of guys who were nearing retirement. Some of them were totally competent and probably could fly to 90. Some, however, really needed to go out at 50. The problem is that the methods for determining who falls into which group are a PC and a First Class medical. Both are a joke at determining who's fit to fly.
Someone posted the Brain Surgeon analogy. Things don't happen at 500 mph and 7 miles of altitude in brain surgery. There are occupations that have mandatory retirement for safety reasons...... Namely ATC.
When a cognitive test comes up that can determine who things quickly enough to do the job safely in high stress situations, then we can talk. Until that test comes along, it is a fact that at SOME age SOME pilots will lose cognitive ability adequate to safely operate a jet transport. That's enough for me and my family who is flying around to want a mandatory retirement age in place. There is no way that you can convince me that there is no percentage of the pilot population that doesn't see that falloff occur until after 70. One is too many if that pilot happens to be at 50' with a gusting crosswind and a blizzard if my family is on board.
Fly with enough guys who have passed the point when they should be retired but the system doesn't weed them out and you won't want the age to go any higher.
Oh, and by the way, developing a stringent enough medical to weed out the geriatrics from the John Glenn's will dramatically increase the chance that YOU will be medically grounded for something that you are flying with right now. Watch your worm can boys ane girls, it's getting creepy crawly.