As a UPS pilot who pays close attention to what goes on 'next door' as we seem to pattern off each other on many things...

To achieve your existing 2% FAE "high five" max benefit of $130k @ 25 years of service, that would be $5200 per YOS under the UPS/IPA Flat Dollar Amount retirement.

Obviously there are differences between our FDA DB plan and your FAE DB plan (our current plan gives a larger benefit to CAs than FOs regardless of income, our benefit maxes at 30 YOS)...but I wonder how the total costs and benefits for that model, which supposedly is less of a financial burden on the employer WRT funding and requires renegotiation every 10 or so years due to IRS and ERISA rules, would compare with your proposed VB that seems to be on a one-way track to Ratification Town.

Again, I'm an outsider so the following is worth exactly what you paid for it...but as somebody hired at age 31 who is now in my mid-30s and supposedly stands to benefit most from a VB-type plan, I'd be completely opposed to what I've seen discussed here.