For The Record- 08. March. 2025

Do you want to get understood?

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“If they offer an Early Out, do you think you’d take it?”

Aviation runs on two things: bad coffee and rumors. Every so often, whispers of an early-out program ignite like little flashfires. But mostly, they’re exercises in daydreaming—a fun what-if parlor game.

Once in a while, Wall Street decides our costs are too high (read: we’re paid too much), and my company tees one up. There are usually two versions: a “good one” (read: More cash and extension of benefits) and a lesser one that involves things like resume help and pass travel.

To qualify for the good ones, you usually have to be “70,” or rather, the combination of your age and years of service has to be equal to or greater than 70. The last big one was during deep COVID; the one before was just after the ACA was rolled out. I barely missed the cut last time. I’m overly qualified now. This place is celebrating 100 years; some of us have been here for almost a third of that. Planes I’ve worked on are now museum pieces (literally). 

That just means these chats stick with me longer than they used to.

Last week I mentioned that:

Three years later, I'd find myself back at LAX, this time one level below the terminal, for new hire training with Northwest Airlines. A dozen(ish) years after that, things would come full circle, and my checks would start saying Delta on them.

I quit that job not long after we returned and returned to the time-honored tradition of spray and pray—only this time with companies at the airport. I landed a job with a third-party handler and made a couple of moves through commuter carriers before landing in the big leagues.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Well, almost 30 years later, there’s a lot of history there. But more importantly, there are a lot of people. Nearly everyone who greeted me when I walked in the door at PDX has long since retired. A good number of them are no longer with us at all. This week, I heard that one is laid up waiting for a lung transplant.

Last week’s song was “Back Together Again,” and this week’s is Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here.”

Stay with me for a second.