Airline employment is not what it once was. It all started with the PATCO strike, then Frank Lorenzo, Carl Icahn, discount airlines, 9/11, and a few oil crisis' thrown in for good measure.
I worked for a small cargo airline for a few years after I retired from the Navy. Eastern had shutdown prior to that, and we had some old pilots from there. They had lost most of their pension, and were just scraping by. Flying ancient DC-8's around in the wee hours of the morning, for a fraction of what they once earned. I think the maximum PBGC pension was about $25K a year then. Not near what they would have got if Eastern had stayed in business. The airlines today, that have gone through bankruptcy, have all eliminated their former pension plans.
Pilots are generally not known for LBYM. The trading in of trophy flight attendants every few years is often the culprit. A hamster wheel of alimony and child support that plague them into their retirement years.
The other side of the spectrum is the kids that drop $100K in student loans on flight training, and are stuck flying for sub-par wages with the regionals. With little upward mobility in sight.