Fellow Pilots, is there any "major people hauler" out there in the last 10-15 years that has not done away with the pension/retirement for their employees (except perhaps Southwest)? I'm not trying to incite a riot but gather information as to the state of our profession. Thank you in advance for your civil responses to this serious question.

Southwest has never had a pension. They only had a 401k plan, and even though most of the majors have either frozen or terminated their pensions, they have replaced them with 401k employer contributions far exceeding SWA.

UAL: 16%
DAL: 14%
CAL: 12.75%
USAir: 10%
SWA: 9.3% (and its a match, so you have to contribute 10% to get it)

American Airlines' pilots are fighting to keep theirs right now.


Is there any 'large' (vs. Major) airline out there that still has a Defined Benefit plan?

Alaska? Hawaiian? Jet Blue? What do you guys have?

Oh, and Emirates, since they will shortly be the largest airline, IN THE WORLD, what do they offer for retirement?

I'm not with Hawaiian but the info I've found shows anyone hired after 6/1/05 gets 15% in a 401k.

Emirates has a provident fund which is their version of a b-plan. I'm not sure what percent or how long it takes to vest.


Cathay Pacific also has a provident fund. They contribute 15.5% of salary into it. It vests 10pct/yr. If you leave after 5yrs you get 50% for example. In the US we can take it as cash which is what most do since they don't offer us any tax advantaged retirement. I invest it in a taxable Acct which is better than nothing I guess.