Originally Posted by NedsKid

I'd argue it's ABOVE industry standard - even industry leading. Here's how I see it after looking at the chart on LTD SWAPA put out in Nov. 2019 as part of their info packet to let their guys see how they stacked up going into negotiations against American, United, Delta, Southwest, Alaska, FedEx, Hawaiian, JetBlue, Spirit, and UPS:

I know many of the pilots reading this don't work for Spirit, so I'll try to add info that might seem redundant to Spirit pilots.

At Spirit, we can get up to $15k/month in LTD pay-out (@ 60% of Pre Disability Earnings [PDE] - so, if you make $300k/year, you make $25k/month, 60% of that is $15k). JetBlue, as far as I can tell, is the only other airline that can get up to $15k/month. Every other airline is lower in both PDE % and LTD monthly cap (except Delta, who has no LTD monthly cap, but a 50% PDE limit, so you'd have to make $360k at Delta vs $300k Spirit to get $15k/month).

The biggest reason Spirit's plan is superior (IMO) is because Spirit only pays for the first $5k or benefits, and the pilots pay for the buy-up out of their own pocket with after-tax $ (yep, you read that right!). It costs about $80/month to pay for the full $10k buy-up, and you can only buy up to the amount you're eligible for, so if you make less than $100k (first year FO), you can't buy-up, and a pilot who makes $150k/year can only buy-up to $7,500, which would cost about $24/month.

The key is, insurance paid for out-of-pocket with after-tax $'s is tax free. Company paid for insurance is NOT. So, when you go out on LTD, you want as much of the $ to be tax free as possible. You already took a unexpected pay-cut, so you're going to want every $ you can to be tax-free.

Spirit will pay $10k tax free, $5k taxed monthly.
JetBlue will pay $1.5k tax free, $13.5k taxed
United will pay $8k, all taxed

I'd rather pay $80/month for $15k, $10k tax free when I REALLY need it.

I'd rather have Harvey Watt too, though.