Originally Posted by alfaromeo

There were basically three groups of pilots that will receive money from the PBGC.

Group 1 was PC-3 which were pilots that were age 53 or older when the pension was terminated. All the money that was left in the pension plan went to them, along with pilots already retired. In general their PC-3 benefit was less than their full earned benefit but could be a significant amount well north of $5,000 a month. In addition, the PBGC had a recovery from Delta in the form of a bankruptcy claim that was converted to stock when Delta exited bankruptcy. That recovery was high enough that it kicked in PC-5 benefits that essentially filled in part of the gap between their PC-3 benefit and their full earned benefit.

Group 2 was PC-4 pilots that had earned retirement benefits greater than the PBGC maximum guarantee but were too young to fit into PC-3. These pilots are often referred to as deadzoners because they were too young to be PC-3 but old enough that they had less time to accumulate additional savings. I am a deadzoner. We get the PBGC guarantee but also receive the PC-5 benefit which fills in about half the loss between the guarantee and our full earned benefit. Many of us will receive more than $5,000 a month between PC-4 and PC-5 benefits. If we wait beyond age 60 to take benefits, then we get even more.

Group 3 was PC-4 pilots that had earned retirement benefits less than the PBGC maximum guarantee. They will just get their full earned benefit but it may not be a large amount of money. All three groups received part of their benefit as a lump sum rollover from our Money Purchase Pension Plan (MPPP). For many in the Group 3, that MPPP payout was the majority of their earned pension benefit, so they have that lump sum growing and their actual payment from the PBGC will be quite paltry.

When the Delta pilots got their $2.1 billion claim, the PBGC demanded a similar amount and got $2.2 billion claim. When that was monetized, there was enough money to pay those PC-5 benefits. That rarely occurs in pension terminations so it is not well understood by anyone. Certainly I didn't even know it existed until I got it.

That is an explanation about how many f-Dal pilots can get more, in some cases quite a bit more, than the PBGC insurance payments.