Originally Posted by O2pilot

We all benefit from a retirement plan.

I don't see anybody on the seniority list complaining about the 16% contribution and some pilots won't be able to touch it for 30-40 years. Also, anybody who retires early because now they don't have to work until 65 lets every pilot move up a number. We get 300-400 early retirements in addition to the normal retirements, and that's a big "now" benefit for everyone. The way this was presented, as a 9% pre-tax contribution by the company that grows over time, actually benefits junior and younger pilots even more, because they have years of accumulation ahead of them, and will have far richer retirements than anyone who was here through the ESOP when we could not contribute to our 401k because the stock value of the ESOP shares were already too high.

Having the company contribute to EVERY pilot, and that pilot able to see how much is in that other retirement account that they own, is a huge win for all of us. If we had that 25 years ago when I was hired, many of us wouldn't be here right now.