Originally Posted by
DAL 88 Driver
From my perspective at DAL... No, it was stolen. We did get some claim and note money. Officially, that was a token in exchange for the massive pay cuts we took, not for loss of retirement. But most of it went tax free into our 401k and DC Plans. So, in effect, it was a boost to our "new" retirement. For me personally, I'll have to fly to age 65 to do it... but I think my 401k and DC Plan will end up providing an income in retirement comparable to what I would have had with the pension. (No guarantees, of course.) Would have been nice to have both... and to be able to retire at 60 as originally planned. But the good news is that I should still have a decent retirement.
This was the difference between UAL and DAL. At UAL, we had a DC and DB plan simultaneously for decades. When the DB plan was terminated, we still had our DC plan, and increased the contribution from 9 to 16%. Since we had both, our DB plan was not near as lucrative as DAL's. Therefore, when it was terminated, we did not receive as much compensation as DAL did for theirs. But what we did get was added to our already existing DC plan. For a 1997 hire with 8 years in and 24 to go, (based on age 60) that ended up being 65K (DB bond money) added to existing DC balance. As well as 83K (stock claim sale) for the pay and benefit cuts. Not bad, but definetly will not make up for the 100K/yr pension I was promised. But the PBGC has promised me about 1100/mo!!
So I got that going for me....which is nice.