It is the only mountain that all of our peers don't have to climb, but we do.

*Edit Actually the are many of these mountains in the TA, but you get my point.

 

My opinion only...but there’s no reason that almost all captains here should not be maxing out their retirement contributions. Saving YOUR money now in a tax advantaged account with the VEBA is an excellent way to start preparing for retirement. The alternative is you getting that money backlight 33percent less and maybe reinvesting it in the same **** and getting taxed again when you pull it out. If you plan on living past 75 you need to fund these costs anyway so why not prepare?

 

POG said it already, but it's the only mountain we have to climb that all of our peers don't have to. The rest can be planned for. Healthcare insurance is such a mess that there's no way to plan for it this far out, only pile up a bunch of money and hope for the best. That's not much of a plan.

 

I have to agree with the others. While you are correct that if you want to retire early, you should save more in preparation, the other side of the argument is that OUR PEERS, specifically MAJOR AIRLINE pilots normally have access to the company's group Healthcare plan at active rates when they retire early. We are an outlier. So, JB pilots have to do a lot more "personal responsibility" CULTure than our DIRECT peers.

Negotiating EVERYTHING at once, from scratch, is a heavy lift, especially when you have a ruthless "caring" employer as we do. So this will probably have to be addressed in the next contract cycle, along with OE pairings and Gate Agent Profit Sharing and Gate Agent Healthcare, and pathetic COLA and the rest.

 

All right, I’ll retract and join yall’s club if somebody can help me out with some documentation. I’m having trouble finding this in the contract comparison, because if “literally all” of our peers get something we don’t, alpa obviously isn’t going to highlight it.

I’ve always had the goal to be ABLE to retire at 55 because 30 years in this industry is plenty. If it’s still working for me, and I can make it close to part time I might continue longer. My mom is out at 59 and 11/12ths next month and dad is 60 and working because he WANTS to. They didn’t do it through reliance on company benefits. They did it through admittedly high income but living well below that and figuring out these hurdles. I’m not interested in relying on company programs to secure my future in every area. That’s why 401k and Veba are so appealing.

 

Latest contract comparison, pages 69 and 70, "RETIREE MEDICAL". Benefit, Pre-Med: Same plan as actives.

It's all there.

 

I also asked about this issue, and its not active HC rates.

Pilots that pay 100% of the cost of medical when retiring early:
American
Southwest
Spirit
Delta (unless in the DPMP - which less than 10% of their pilots are - they pay 51%. 51% of the cost of that plan is almost as much as the full cost of the other plans)

Pilots that pay a portion of the cost of medical when retiring early:
Alaska: 50% of the cost
United: 40-80% of the cost depending on years of service.

Pilots that pay active healthcare rates:
Hawaiian

But I'm guessing you don't want Hawaiian pay rates.

 

Good info! At least these pilots have the option, which may be preferable to shopping on the open market. I'm just as concerned with insurability as I am with the premium. You can always plan to allocate more funds. It's difficult to plan if you can't be sure you'll have any coverage at all.

 

OK, you need to explain what you mean by 100%. True that some of the early retiree plans differ from the active pilot plan, but none of them are literally no health insurance.

I for one would love more details.

 

Paying 100% of the airlines GROUP PLAN when 60-64 years of age is still MUCH better than going onto the open market and buying an individual plan for an AARP eligible couple....