That is what all they ANC guys I flew with, also said.

Pg
 

PG,
I think the actuaries data says the pilot who retires at 55 will live to an older age than the pilot who retires at 60.....much less 65.

According to my former employer's data, I have about 2 months left to live.....glad I got a little bit of that A-plan while I'm still kickin':D

It appears the elder NWA guys may have hit the lotto. Get taken over by a co, take relatively no seniority hit, get a pay raise, keep their retirement, come into a better "current" retirement system, and looked like they would/could work until 65. Now they may (we do not know the terms) get a decent check to leave early. Which as someone pointed out was already happening in small numbers. I can hear the mad scramble now to the HR dept with guys trying to pull their retirement letters. We will see no more retirements until this thing is decided. Guys that left before this are kicking themselves. The up-front money incentive I'm sure will more than make up for any retirement hit taken over the last few years. :eek:

Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines both hit the lotto by merging. Just a quick reminder that NWA brought more cash than DAL, more quarterly earnings than DAL, and a higher market cap than DAL. Don't get me wrong DAL was a great airline...so was NWA. The new DAL will be better than both.

If you've got another plan that will remove 500 former DAL guys from the list...I'm listening.

Carl

Swine Flu, a few 48 hour layovers in Mexico City should do the trick.

I've been putting arsenic into the food of everyone who is senior to me since I started at the company, don't think I've got to 500 though.

Seriously though, early retirements followed by an economic recovery could make for some good news in a couple years. No?

Carl you forgot Delta brought NWA management to the merger. You al... wait... what did I just say? :p

I've only seen very few retirement photos in the halls of DTW, MEM & MSP.

We need far more to sign...

I think the math will look something like this:

If it costs x to train 500 downgrading pilots in the wake of a furlough, Delta will offer a package equalling x-y to the 500 pilots it hopes to take an early retirement. Y = savings the company + cost to upgrade pilots to take empty captain's seats.

Yeah, it's kind of depressing to see the bare walls when I check in. A few dozen new retirement posters would certainly brighten my day!

A few years back I recall popping off the rudder-trim cap on a bunch of -9s and reading "Retire you Old Fart!" written on the underside. I would, of course, hand it to the Captain and say "I think this is for you!"

Who knows? Maybe an early retirement package will keep some of our junior pilots off the street. I hope so...