forgot to bid

Me too.


In 28 years.

Timbo

How about ALPA work on RESTORING the PROFESSION and the RETIREMENT PLANS that every Major ALPA Carrier lost in the bankruptcies??

The real reason the age was lifted to 65 six years ago was due to all the lost retirement plans. Now that 8 airlines have merged to become 4 major airlines, and they have stopped undercutting each other with fare wars, they are (finally) making BILLIONS per year. ALPA National should be focused on restoring our lost retirement money to us in the Dead Zone, so we can AFFORD to retire!

Nobody I know wants to fly MORE, especially as they get older. They want more Money, not more Work.

Carl Spackler

And more women...which we no longer know what to do with.

Carl

galaxy flyer

Carl,

That's where the top three-digit F/As come in-- more women you don't want to know what you can do with.

GF

Yosemite Sam

Geezus!! Now 67? These old f@rts are like herpes!!!

horrido27

PD, a couple of things-
I never said "abuse the sick leave". Read my original post.
I will say that as you get older, it's natural that you are going to have more aches and pains.
So.. is it safe to say that there will be days you wake up and have a back ache, a head ache, how about a little arthritis in a joint?
Should you just take an aspirin and go to work?
Most of us who are younger would say, yeah.. go to work.
As you get older, you may say.. I have the sick time, I'm calling in sick.
Not "abuse", just realistic.

I believe you are a Delta Pilot. If so, what is the actual Delta policy with regards to sick. I thought that Delta pilots gets 200-240 hours a year (non rollover) and that a pilot can use up to 100 hours before any note or questions are asked.
The reason I bring this up is, it would seem that Delta has taken the road that they know that pilots (just like everyone out there) get sick or have days where they are not at 100%.
But unlike an office worker, an auto mechanic or ever a ramper/CSR.. a pilot can't "legally" report to work if he/she is not 100%.
Have we all done it.. yupe. But what we have done in the past or when we were younger is not the same thing that we will do when we are older.

At United, our policy makes it beneficial to build up hundreds of hours in the bank till you plan to "use" it (or something major happens which eats up alot/all of your sick bank).
It's unknown how many UAL pilots are sitting on 500+ hours of sick time, but from most Capts or friends I talk to it seems to be alot!
That "sick time" has an economic value to it. If the company doesn't pay it out one way, they will pay it out another. Cost of doing business.
Doesn't matter what the retirement age was, is or will be.

Yes, 6 days a month is somewhat unrealistic. But if you're anywhere past 60, you aren't working 15-16 days a month unless you want it (exceptions being- you got hired late in life or have something financially going on which requires you to work as much as possible). Actually working (putting on the monkey suit and going to the airport) is more like 9 days, give or take a day or two~

Motch

cubguy

Amusing thread.

Reading twelve pages of debate over right/wrong, healthy/unhealthy, retirement planning, expectations and entitlements has provoked a few thoughts of my own.

With all of the wisdom on these pages, I haven't read anyone acknowledge the damage that fear, paranoia and anger can do to ones health, multiplied by the need to blame someone else for all disappointments.

As for me:
I'll work till I don't want to work anymore, if I have aged out of my
job before then, I will work somewhere else. When I'm tired of working, I'll quit.
If the max age is raised I will deal with it. No other pilot owes me a damn thing, senior or junior.
If I outlive my retirement savings, I will go broke, (no one to blame but myself) If I don't, I will leave it to someone deserving.
I will enjoy what I have while I'm young enough to enjoy it. This includes boats, motorcycles and airplanes. If any of those kill me, it was my time to go.

Lighten up, life is supposed to be fun!
CG

Timbo

Are you speaking from personal experience?

atpcliff

The pilot max age will, like in Canada, go away, but it won't matter very much. The older guys are the more guys leave, medical out, or die.

With the worldwide pilot hiring situation, eliminating the age will help marginally in the short-term, but won't help at all in the long term. The situation, from an HR point of view, will just get worse and worse, for the foreseeable future.

New pilot starts have been decreasing for years, and are at a very low point right now in the US, the only major country that produces excess pilots (unless you count foreign cadet pilots who are obligated to their airlines who are paying their training costs). There is demand for pilots worldwide, especially in Asia. China is going crazy right now with air travel expansion. By 2030 they are forecast to have MORE AIRCRAFT IN SERVICE THAN THE US DOES TODAY!!!

Just saw a number of Chinese jobs offering 9 (NINE!) rostering options in addition to moving to China.

More and more foreign carriers, mostly Asian ones, will offer US pilot basing, which is when they will really start siphoning off US pilots, thus exacerbating the shortage here.

Timbo

The Asians could have as many highly trained US Pilots as they need, easily, next week. All they'd have to do is open bases in ATL, JFK, ORD, DEN, DFW, LAX, SFO and SEA, and PAY US more than we are making today, with better benefits.

Most of us have Zero loyalty to the US Majors after the "Lost Decade" of pay cuts, furloughs and lost retirements, and would jump ship in a NY Minute for more money and better benefits (fully paid health care and full retirement). In fact, this entire "Pilot Shortage" could be cured tomorrow if RJ pay tripled and Mainline Pay doubled.

What was it they said in Good Fellas?

FU, Pay ME!