Hey, for a crew meal all you will need is a spoon..........

The new "Special" crew meal...

I have asked Dr. Quay Snyder (AMAS) about medical retirement numbers under/ over 60 and he says that the numbers above 60 don't seem any higher than those below. Basically, "if you make it to 60, you'll probably make it to 65."

I was at the ALPA Pilot Assistance Forum this week in D.C., and Dr. Fred Tilton (Federal Air Surgeon) and Dr. Mike Berry (FAA Medical Specialties Division) were asked the 65+ question and they said that they haven't heard anything about raising the age, but hinted Cog Screens would have to be considered at that point.

Sorry, folks...

I didn't mean to touch off debates about the merits of the Age 65 rule, or Democrats vs. Republicans, or anything else. (And I'm amazed that the US East/West seniority argument hasn't crept into this thread... yet.)

I was simply inquiring as to whether anybody had heard anything about a possible change to the rule prohibiting two 60+ pilots from occupying the front window seats on international flights.

That's all.

And my thanks to the couple of people who actually offered responses to the original question.

If there is some sort of labor shortage which necessitates changing the rule - it will most likely happen. Although your thread went in other directions, these things are all related. I sure did not want to work past age 60 but after the retirement heist I had no choice. Still, that rule would not have changed had corporations not needed a larger labor pool. Corporations would not have been successful had they not already gutted pilot contracts. (The political implications are obvious.)But the answer to your question is the same as the reasons for the age 60 change.

I hear ya...I'm hoping by the time I'm 65 I'm done with any "real" work...

You sure about that? Didn't the "B" scale come in in the early 80's? 83 or 84 I think? Who made up the bulk of the AA seniority list in the early to mid 80's? Here's a hint - the first RJ didn't even fly until about 1990 or so, and the regional carriers didn't start their big growth until the mid to late 90's.

RJ pilots negotiated the B scale? Quite the opposite actually.

Age 65 was the original retirement age in this country.

I spent two hours driving a 2008 Republican presidential candidate last month. His words: The ruling class of the Republican and Democratic parties are one in the same and are in bed with the media. Politics in Washington is like WWF, politicians fight with each other for their careers and our entertainment...

The tea party scares you because the establishment has mainstream media portray libertarians as gun touting wackos—Media is reality.

I've only seen the pre-60 numbers (and I don't have 'em handy - sorry), but what the AMAS doc is saying is that they'll get better from 60 to 65, which I have a hard time with. It's possible, I guess. Somebody above alluded to 0500 van times, and that just gets a lot harder as you age, as does everything else. Overall I just don't think this is going to be the problem for the younger set that some think it will be.

Some of us remember the outrage over "ROPES", but the overall numbers were small.

WHY will the seniority system HAVE to be eliminated or altered???