Originally Posted by
keenster
... the Delta guys who bailed out early--maybe around 1500 guys or so????? Why didn't they stick around if Delta is such a great deal for a few nickles.
Plenty of good reasons: they could take a 50% lump sum, bankruptcy and big wage cuts were looming, they had to go at 60 anyway, and the pension plan was (correctly) rumored to be severely underfunded, so it was possible that they might get only the PBGC minimum if they waited.