Originally Posted by fr8rcaptain

Not exactly. The A Plan (Defined Benefit Plan) DOES have a contractual end date, but is not "renegotiated" each contract.

A terminating date for this pension plan is required, otherwise the company would have to fund the plan for the entire pilot groups estimated actuarial longevity. That would be a pretty big chunk of loose change (100s of millions?).

Instead, an end date is established and the continuation of the flat dollar benefit past the amendable date is covered in the "Letter of Agreement –Extending Pension Flat Dollar Formula Beyond Amendable Date" LOA found in the back of the contract. Here's the boiler plate language. I'd recommend reading the entire LOA instead of this boring snippet:

If a successor labor agreement is not ratified on or before December 31, 2023, the Company agrees to amend the plan by January 31, 2024, effective January 1, 2024, to provide that crewmembers that will attain age sixty (60) prior to December 31, 2026 may retire on or after attaining early retirement age and immediately commence drawing a benefit based on the better of the final average earnings formula or the applicable flat dollar formula. Such amendment also will provide that to the extent a crewmember covered under this provision began drawing a benefit prior to January 1, 2024,

(1) his benefit shall be recalculated, and
(2) no later than March 1, 2024, the plan will pay the crewmember a lump sum amount (subject to spousal consent as applicable) which is the difference between
i. the total amount that he would have received if his benefit payments had been paid based on the better of the final average earnings formula or the applicable flat dollar formula, and
ii. the total payments that he actually received, and
(3) no later than March 1, 2024, the plan will also pay the crewmember interest on the amount paid under paragraph (b)(2) above, at a rate of 7% per year, compounded annually.