Retirement and Commuter Policy
 

Prospective pilot here. Looking at the new contract it appears the only option for retirement is the DC plan. Am I right to assume the company will contribute 16% of your Gross Earnings for every pay period into the 401K? Is there any requirement for employee contribution? Just curious what pilots are doing for retirement going forward. Also looking at the commuter policy, it appears that if you don't make your second flight, you can call crew sked and be taken off the trip or reserve with no jeopardy, just want to make sure I have that correct too. Lastly, are you commuters able to combine trips or reserve for larger blocks of time off? Thanks for your help everybody!

For every $1 you earn they put in 16 cents. There is no requirement for you to do anything. However, you can put up to $17,500 ($22,500 if you are 55 or older) in per year yourself and not pay taxes on that. I've done it every year since 2000 and its the smartest thing I have ever done. If you exceed the IRS limits (Its close to $50k) then you get it paid out as income and taxed.

Read the book "Millionaire Next Door". Best book ever. I"m in my 40s and I can stop working if I wanted because I've saved.

Lots of pilots own rental houses, some have military retirements, others have businesses or have just saved money over the years.

If you can't make the 2nd commute flight just call the crew desk. You will be removed without pay, but they won't hassle you. I've only had it happen once in 13 years of commuting and they were very cool about it.

Most commuters either bid 4 day trips, or put trips back to back (i.e. 2 trips that are 2 days each). With PBS you can select options that help you maximize blocks of days off for commuting.

Hope that helps.

401K: you re correct, no employee contribution required to get the company's 16%.

Commuter policy: correct also, no jeopardy just loss of pay for that res day or trip

As far as combining trips.. Depends on your seniority.. I ve seen
756 lines with 2 or 3 trips in a row followed by 10 or so days off.

16% is correct. Your contribution optional. Brain scan mandatory if you elect to skip it, unless you can prove a giant pile of funds elsewhere, extraordinary need or sickly well heeled relatives.

Its probably the last good deal at UAL. Well...that and delicious and generous crew meals. Can you spell Barf? That's from the Blue perspective. I'm not sure how the CAL guys feel. Yo Black... Bark!

Prudent commuter policy is still in effect as far as I know. I don't spend as much time scrutinizing the FOM as I used to thanks to the wonderful treatment I've received as an employee of the big tulip....er...hairnet. Just remember this - no matter what's in the book, if you commute and have issues making a trip, you'll have issues with the crew desk and the CP. I don't care what the book says, experience and the experience of MANY others dictates otherwise. Jump through all the hoops, dot all the i's, get your prudence on....and still get in more than lukewarm water. The lines are thin, so squint. Glad to hear others have had better luck, but I am one leery pastel psycho.

Of course there is a silver bullet. But, you'll steep for that too.

Note that the commuter policy requires one to contact crew scheduling after the first missed flight. It's not explicitly stated, but if they want you for the the trip they will place you positive space on the next UA flight at their option. If it's not a big deal to them (i.e. there is plenty of coverage) and you miss the second flight it's no-harm, no-foul. The downside to the pilot is the potential loss of pay for the trip.

Ditto everything pilot64golfer said about maximizing retirement contributions.

I'm pretty sure if you exceed the limit ($51k, $56.5k over 50) anything over goes into the VEBA fund. It does not come back to you. This was posted by someone on the R&I committee on another forum. It might be of helpful for some.

Thanks... But the "catch up". Starts at age 50 and is $5500 above the 17500 for a total of 23 for those of us over 50

So how does that work. If you turn 50 on Dec 31st then technically can you contribute the extra cash in the year you turn 50? Is it prorated?

I also want to mention that 16% is negotiated every contract. It was not too long ago we were at 11% and even dropped down to 1% during our glorious ESOP years of the roaring 90's.

We had to be at 1% because the value of the stock was significant and it was causing the company to not be able to comply with certain laws for "highly compensated individuals" so we physically couldn't get more than that without causing problems elsewhere, hence the C plan distributions.