I teach my kids not to let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
I teach my kids the time value of money.
I teach my kids to never ever rely on a pension, because I watched my uncle lose his at UAL.
I teach my kids that when you negotiate for four years, it's not realistic to go back to the table and say, "We changed our minds, we want more, and this time we REALLY mean it."

I don't think Delta should have signed their TA. And not because of the loss of profit sharing. Because of the access Flight Ops was given to their medical records.

But I do think their timeline is relevant. If we had turned down our TA we'd still be waiting, just like them. And with all this strife and litigation with our MEC, I wouldn't at all have been surprised if it had been three years or more to get another TA.

Go back and look at your retirement summary from FDX that you got last fall. The company had already funded for what they forcast would cost for the increased A fund. They were 4 Billion over funded for the current retirement obligation, since we did not increase the retirement. It will be interesting to see where that 4 B moves to now that it is not needed to fund retirements. Maybe it will counter balance the 4.8 Billion cash purchase price they agreed to pay for TNT.

You really believe that? With us being undermanned by close to 1,000 pilots? (Number from instructors in AOTC).

It's more than just a catch phrase. There's math involved. Try these numbers on for size. A 55-year-old pilot with 20 years of service plans to retire on his 60th birthday and live to 90 with a spouse living to 90 and a month. (She'll die of a broken heart.) How much of a pay raise is required, with its time value, to make up for the failure to raise the FAE cap to twice the IRS limit (as it was originally intended to be)?

How much can he make up by changing his mind and working (and delaying your rise in seniority) until his 65th birthday?


I was making enough money per month BEFORE we ratified the TA. Higher pay rates wasn't even in the Top 5 priorities most pilots expressed in polls and surveys. The paychecks that concern me the most are the ones that start upon retirement. I'm going to need a lot more time value on my 10% to make a dent in the damage done in our "A" plan by abandoning a Top 3 goal.

But you won't refuse your pension checks, right?






.

No.

But I'm not planning on them being there either.

The funding for the current employees was never the issue. IMHO the issue was the funding for the 1000 new hires with a projected retirement beyond 2040. Perhaps there was a reason hiring was delayed and the company was willing to outsource until after the contract was settled.

Why would that ever be an issue? You know, time value of money and all that jazz.





.

I noticed you avoided the "time value of money" math problem.



Is it just a mantra for how short can I sell myself, or can you attach a real dollar value?






.

Someone has to put up the money upfront to get the time value of it. And if the cap were unlimited it is a lot more up front. Precisely the point. Thanks.

The benefit is not, and never has been unlimited. It's based on earnings, which is based on work performed. Nothing is at risk "up front." The employee performs a unit of work, a proportion is set aside to fund the "A" Plan, and a proportion is directed to the "B" Plan. When it's the "B" Plan, The Company has no choice but to incur the entire expense immediately and repeatedly. In the case of an "A" plan, the money still belongs to The Company and the obligation can be spread over time.

Why do people believe it's too expensive for The Company to save the money, but the pilot will have no trouble?






.