NYC96

Actually blame the airlines. They terminated pension contributions in bankruptcy right after 9-11-01. Also many ended medical benefits in retirement as well. Some continue to fly because they are healthy enough and like the job. Mandatory, not in the United States.

LonghaulCommuter

I doubt there is one for Delta. I fly international mostly and I've had many grandmas and grandpas as FAs (those plum routes must depend on seniority). I've read that some airlines retire their FAs very young. On Singapore Airlines, it looks like they get the female FAs off the planes before they hit 35.

Silver Fox

On United it is 112, but only if both parents can come to the retirement do.

pgh234

I was on a D1 TATL flight over Christmas and had the oldest lady on my side of the aisle. She had to have been at least mid-70's.

1) No PDB until someone asked the purser.
2) Asked old FA for signature cocktail when placing meal drink orders, she could not even read the menu due to poor vision (with her glasses on!)
3) I explained what it was and she managed to fish out the required bottles from the cart with my help.
4) My favorite...she could not open the mini-booze bottle and made me open it for her! (It was just as easy as every other booze bottle)
5) She set my meal down without a table cloth.
6) Throughout all of this, she was very hard of hearing.

Lets just say the purser was following this woman down the aisle apologizing profusely and cleaning up her mess. I felt guilty making this old FA work to give me my meal! My meal service took twice as long as my wife on the other side of D1 with a different FA.

How would this woman be capable of basic emergency functions like opening a door or hearing commands? She looked so old and frail. Like a grandmother...with 40 year-old grand children.

nichojo

Sad state of affairs. Of course she's providing bad service in the premium cabin on a premium route because she has seniority and can bid for it. Meanwhile, the young, eager FA's are getting jaded flying to dayton 5 times a day.

pvn

just the absolute worst parts of humanity on display in this thread, completely disgusting.

trooper

ONE pilot can be over 60..... ONE. I know one of these "too old" guys... still flying commercially, and very happy about the age extension. Flies a fully aerobatic warbird in his spare time..... oh yeah... crappy reaction times for sure.

If you think 60 is decrepit then please, by all means promise to kill yourself when you reach that age. I'm not far off it and have been selected to represent my country in my sport later this year.

Jeez.....

MSPeconomist

Sadly I think the Bob Reardon experience with this very old guy bringing a lawyer to his required requalification tests every year has made DL shy away from telling certain FAs that it's time to retire from the job and perhaps transition to a different job with DL if they're interested. Yes there's a risk that litigation could get ugly, but perhaps in a few cases this needs to be done.

I've been told that some of the Asian carriers have up or out by a certain age or number of years on the job rules, so that a FA who hasn't yet been made a purser cannot continue to fly as a FA. In addition, older FAs sometimes move into office jobs at headquarters or other customer service positions if they're interested and if their work history (showing up on time, etc.) has been acceptable.

Eastbay1K

And to think, not too long ago the pilot would have had to go to Carousel at 60 (which was fortunate, given that original Carousel was at 30).

readywhenyouare

If they can keep up with service then fine, fly as long as you want. But let's face facts, as you age performance generally declines. It's not an insult, just a part of getting old. Would you want an 80 year old surgeon operating on you? Another problem with older people is that they grew up in a time where cooperation wasn't mandated. Thankfully most of the pilots from that time period have ridden out the clock. Younger people have a better understanding of working as a team and we are much safer for it.

readywhenyouare

I guess you missed Reno Air Show crash a few years ago where a 74 year old pilot crashed into the crowd and killed 10 and injured 69 more. It is selfish. Thankfully my grandparents knew when it was time to stop driving and didn't make my parents go through the grief of having to take the keys. Why not go out on a good note?

pvn

there's no indication that the pilot's age was the cause of that crash

hi55us

I for one would be more than happy to have the 66 year old Captain Chelsey "Sully" Sullenberger on the flight deck. Oh yea, he was working one of those low-seniority LGA-CLT flights....

readywhenyouare

He was not the first person to pull off a successful ditching. That whole incident was blown way out of proportion and all it did was give him a platform to moan and complain about the industry.

CosmosHuman

Reminds me of Logans Run. If anyone can remember that movie.