WS01,

Here is a sound piece of advice. In 2005 I had a neck injury that required extensive surgery and wound up keeping off the line for the better part of year. At the time we did not have LTD at UAL.

The event just about bankrupted me. Once you are out of sick list and vacation they would put you on Short term disability for three months back then. I spent about 6 months with no pay. At the time I was a 320 F/O making little money and had little to no savings.

The last thing you need when seriously sick or injured is the stress of trying to come up with enough money every week to feed your kids. You've got enough to worry about between trying to heal, medical appointments, PT, not being able to drive, ETC, ETC....

LTD is one of the finest enhancements to come along for this pilot group possibly ever! Don't waste it! My advice is that you buy the maximum amount of ALPA STD and do the company LTD. If you've ever priced outside private LTD insurance you'll find that this is dirt cheap and that buying outside LTD for Pilot is almost impossible unless you are willing to pay big bucks for small benefits.

Do the company LTD it's foolish not to.