Originally Posted by 07Driver (Post 2501395)

To each his own, not sure why us LUV guys have such a chip about it.

Originally Posted by BobZ (Post 2501548)

What about survivorship discount on earned benefit?

So if i understand each year of service you will accrue an additional 1/25th of the presently capped benefit of 130k/yr?

Retirement benefit contemplations are part math and part crystal ball. Unfortunately we usually have to wait till the end of the day to check our results. :)

30yrs ago fedx was my 1st choice, but it wasnt because of the retirement. Given the road i did travel, being a new pilot today i would value having my retirement in my hand and in my name over any blind trust owned by my employer.

A year2 fo at delta gets 16% from the company. The last 2 years he has also gotten another 30%+ in profit sharing. Which also gets the 16% kick in from company.

And in the event of a ltd event his 50% fae has no dollar maximum cap, and the company kick in goes from 16% to 32%.

Its all in his name. And will pass through to heirs at 100% dollar value.

Its a guess at best we make, and its never as simple as it seems.

Originally Posted by Beans (Post 2501739)

Bob,

Yes it has a survivorship benefit and its not owned by the company its funded outside. This was part of the government regulation pasted to protect pensions. It seems you are in love with the market based investments currently and I don't blame you with the way the market is going, however ask what a purely market based retirement looked like from 2004-2015. Belive me purely market based investments also carry many risks and I'm sure you know many who pulled out of the market after taking a 40% hit in the down turn. The thing I like about FedEx is they have the best of both worlds. They have the A plan (130k a year) and the B Plan which is a 9% DC. It does what any investment professional will tell you to do "Diversify".

The value of the "A" plan is 34k annually if it was converted into a DC style contribution and this is assuming a 6% market growth year over year. This market won't last forever and as a Guy who has 30 years left I'm sure I will see another big market fall. As for the profit sharing its a "crystal ball" as you call it. Do you think any airline will be massively profitable for the next 30 years straight? Don't get me wrong its nice to get it but I'm just using the same positions you take to apply it to the Delta plan.

Originally Posted by BZC17 (Post 2501603)

Good luck beans! Seemed like you where never happy here at SWA. There are a lot of reasons people don’t apply to Fed Ex/UPS. Long haul cargo is not for everyone. Some have already done it for a decade plus in other capacities and seen the toll it takes on the body.
Things are rosy right now everywhere. It wasn’t too long ago ups was hiring straight to the left seat management pilots while guys where still furloughed. The risks are there flying cargo. I don’t think amazon is an immediate threat but over a career I would definitely worry about Jeff Bezos.
Again, good luck. We don’t make the most at Swa and we are trying to change that, but try not to burn any bridges on the way out. This profession is fraught with broken promises and broke retired pilots.

Originally Posted by Beans (Post 2501755)

BZC17,

Thanks for the well wishes. Its not that I was unhappy at SWA its just that I crunched the numbers and realized over a 30 year career it was a big number difference. The other thing I realized is that just because you are flying days doesn't mean you can't be fatigued with the type of flying SWA does. My goal is to not do the long haul international but, instead do the WB domestic daytime stuff which they have a lot of (50%) of current domestic flying at FDX and increasing as they get more 767s. I honestly wish all the SWA crews the best.

Originally Posted by Beans (Post 2501278)

I saw a poster earlier say that all the guys/gals at the majors make about the same. This is absolutly false. The numbers and benefits don't lie. FedEx leads the pack by a long shot from my observation for the reasons below.

2nd year pay- $173 currently in November it goes to $178. This does not even account for all the trip over rides for international and trip/duty regs.

6 hour a day min gurantee

These guys fly about 250 hours a year and get paid 1100-1300 hours of credit. Thats a 4 to 1 ratio.

A Fund- Pension (130k a year when you retiree funded outside of the company) This is worth about 34k a year assuming a comparable DC contribution ratio and this is assuming a 6% market gain per year

B Fund - 8% DC contributions goes to 9% next year

Almost all of your career is on wide body pay scale which is worth millions over a 30 year career assuming wages and retirement as compared to another doing mostly narrow body.

Upgrades are under 2 years for a 757 Capt.

Yes you see some guys (the abnormal) stating they make 250k as an FO at SWA but this is by far not the normal. These are the supper senior or those flying their life away literally.

I am one of those at SW thats leavening to FedEx and have tones of buddies who have done the same.

The numbers just don't lie folks. If you see someone posting with some obscured numbers you know they are working like a you know what or they are very senior and are bidding to fly with check airman getting dropped and still flying.

Originally Posted by vprof (Post 2501773)

UPS
17 year intl. FO
Commuter
363 block
$261,000
$12,000 401k
$28,500 B plan
$301,500