New early out offer coming?

[Aretiree]

i'm glad you feel relieved...did you think the company tricked you to leave and then wouldn't pay you?

i'm sorry your 'class' of retirees didn't get insurance money. i still can't believe the number of those who rejected the buy-out, even after a 2nd bite of the apple last month.

i read that the average american male (female is higher) will spend $135k in out of pocket medical expenses AFTER the age of 65. the company knew exactly what they were doing with staggered amounts from $150k to $100k in insurance money.



i would think the company is done with this. parker was on cnbc the other day and said aa will be 'cash-positive' in the back half of 2021. if business travel accelerates, will be sooner.

 

[Aretiree]

I don't think I was "tricked" into leaving. But after 34 years, let's just say my trust in management was seriosly lacking. March 15 could have rolled around and they could not have paid us, using delaying tactics (as thay have used in past contract negotiations) or perhaps filing for BK where I would have been a creditor thay owed money to. I just plain don't trust them.

I had been considering retiring late 2020 or early 2021 anyway. I'm 64, and didn't want to hang around there until my 70's. There are other things I want to do besides getting up before dawn, stuck in traffic commuting, etc. When they froze the TWU pensions, I upped my 401k contribution, and every raise we received since then went to the 401k. The insurance HRA would have been great, but I won't waste a second lamenting over it. I knew how much the AA retiree medical,lots of private insurance plans, and cobra monthly rates were going to cost.Cobra for 30 months at employee rates saves me at least $500/mo. and it will get me to medicare age. When I left, AA wasn't sure about the new TWU/IAM HRA in the contract, so I opted to get paid for my unused sk time, which is paying for my 30 months of cobra.

I read the same thing about $135k in retiree out of pocket medical expenses, and I agree that the company knows what they're doing. They have a whole cabal of lawyers who are the masters in the art of manipulating the fine print.

I truly hope that AAL will be "cash positive" , and stay that way. Everyone's frozen pension depends on it.

I hope everyone takes full advantage of the 401k match, Max out your 401k contributions if you can, Save save save...so you can retire before you're too old. I have zero stress, am keeping busy, and sleeping 7-8 hours a night.

There were more people I would have liked to say goodbye to, but they showed us to the door really fast.

 

[dfw gen]

I don't think I was "tricked" into leaving. But after 34 years, let's just say my trust in management was seriosly lacking. March 15 could have rolled around and they could not have paid us, using delaying tactics (as thay have used in past contract negotiations) or perhaps filing for BK where I would have been a creditor thay owed money to. I just plain don't trust them.

I had been considering retiring late 2020 or early 2021 anyway. I'm 64, and didn't want to hang around there until my 70's. There are other things I want to do besides getting up before dawn, stuck in traffic commuting, etc. When they froze the TWU pensions, I upped my 401k contribution, and every raise we received since then went to the 401k. The insurance HRA would have been great, but I won't waste a second lamenting over it. I knew how much the AA retiree medical,lots of private insurance plans, and cobra monthly rates were going to cost.Cobra for 30 months at employee rates saves me at least $500/mo. and it will get me to medicare age. When I left, AA wasn't sure about the new TWU/IAM HRA in the contract, so I opted to get paid for my unused sk time, which is paying for my 30 months of cobra.

I read the same thing about $135k in retiree out of pocket medical expenses, and I agree that the company knows what they're doing. They have a whole cabal of lawyers who are the masters in the art of manipulating the fine print.

I truly hope that AAL will be "cash positive" , and stay that way. Everyone's frozen pension depends on it.

I hope everyone takes full advantage of the 401k match, Max out your 401k contributions if you can, Save save save...so you can retire before you're too old. I have zero stress, am keeping busy, and sleeping 7-8 hours a night.

There were more people I would have liked to say goodbye to, but they showed us to the door really fast.

Agree 100% if i were 62 i would be gone without a second thought. At 57 a little too much trust is required, and that trust and faith is just not there.

 

[CremaDiLimone]

I don't think I was "tricked" into leaving. But after 34 years, let's just say my trust in management was seriosly lacking. March 15 could have rolled around and they could not have paid us, using delaying tactics (as thay have used in past contract negotiations) or perhaps filing for BK where I would have been a creditor thay owed money to. I just plain don't trust them.

I had been considering retiring late 2020 or early 2021 anyway. I'm 64, and didn't want to hang around there until my 70's. There are other things I want to do besides getting up before dawn, stuck in traffic commuting, etc. When they froze the TWU pensions, I upped my 401k contribution, and every raise we received since then went to the 401k. The insurance HRA would have been great, but I won't waste a second lamenting over it. I knew how much the AA retiree medical,lots of private insurance plans, and cobra monthly rates were going to cost.Cobra for 30 months at employee rates saves me at least $500/mo. and it will get me to medicare age. When I left, AA wasn't sure about the new TWU/IAM HRA in the contract, so I opted to get paid for my unused sk time, which is paying for my 30 months of cobra.

I read the same thing about $135k in retiree out of pocket medical expenses, and I agree that the company knows what they're doing. They have a whole cabal of lawyers who are the masters in the art of manipulating the fine print.

I truly hope that AAL will be "cash positive" , and stay that way. Everyone's frozen pension depends on it.

I hope everyone takes full advantage of the 401k match, Max out your 401k contributions if you can, Save save save...so you can retire before you're too old. I have zero stress, am keeping busy, and sleeping 7-8 hours a night.

There were more people I would have liked to say goodbye to, but they showed us to the door really fast.

good story, you're a better person than me - i would have been upset if i had left in march 2020, and then 3-4 months later, they offer the insurance money to those who left oct. 1 of 2020 and once again to those leaving in a few months.

good point about the 401k...maybe we've been spoiled the past x-amount of years as investment percentages have been fantastic. the accountant/financial planner will tell you to figure on 6%-7% per year..at those rates, many will need to work a bit longer. 401ks will not be going up every year at 15%-25%.

my pension got frozen and fidelity tells me i'll be getting $17k per year in retirement from my aa pension and that will be an excellent boost to my 401k/other investments along with social security.

one of the biggest factors on the ramp for those who should leave and don't leave is the old aa/twu way of seniority dictates easy shifts and aa crew chiefs direct the work force. easy shifts still exist but the company is using hand-held devices to eliminate seniority (35 year guy may get 3 trips and a 7 year guy may get 2 trips during this pandemic schedule) and supervisors are now directing the work force -via the hand-held devices.

a grievance was filed and a decision on this is due back at the end of march. if the grievance is lost, some will regret not taking the buy-out.

 

[eolesen]

Q'elle horreuer! Expecting a 35 year guy to have to do the same amount of work as the 7 year guy?....

 

[Talos]

good story, you're a better person than me - i would have been upset if i had left in march 2020, and then 3-4 months later, they offer the insurance money to those who left oct. 1 of 2020 and once again to those leaving in a few months.

good point about the 401k...maybe we've been spoiled the past x-amount of years as investment percentages have been fantastic. the accountant/financial planner will tell you to figure on 6%-7% per year..at those rates, many will need to work a bit longer. 401ks will not be going up every year at 15%-25%.

my pension got frozen and fidelity tells me i'll be getting $17k per year in retirement from my aa pension and that will be an excellent boost to my 401k/other investments along with social security.

one of the biggest factors on the ramp for those who should leave and don't leave is the old aa/twu way of seniority dictates easy shifts and aa crew chiefs direct the work force. easy shifts still exist but the company is using hand-held devices to eliminate seniority (35 year guy may get 3 trips and a 7 year guy may get 2 trips during this pandemic schedule) and supervisors are now directing the work force -via the hand-held devices.

a grievance was filed and a decision on this is due back at the end of march. if the grievance is lost, some will regret not taking the buy-out.

The changes in getting your assignments has been received poorly in DFW. The number of easy shifts is very few as the union lost cabin and eagle transfer. Using the present system of moving everyone all over the place has some real negatives. Room for error has increased greatly, and the mgmt people moving everyone around seem in over their heads. I'm a driver and they give us a radio so all day long I have to listen to missing 2 drivers here, no gate crew here, bags on the ground here. In a big operation using people that have not experienced how things are done to make decisions seems unwise. This is with a greatly reduced schedule from covid. How things will be with a full schedule is not going to be pretty.

 

[CremaDiLimone]

Q'elle horreuer! Expecting a 35 year guy to have to do the same amount of work as the 7 year guy?....

you're exactly correct. a definite horror story for a few 65+ and 70+ y/o when we go back to a normal schedule.

 

[CremaDiLimone]

The changes in getting your assignments has been received poorly in DFW. The number of easy shifts is very few as the union lost cabin and eagle transfer. Using the present system of moving everyone all over the place has some real negatives. Room for error has increased greatly, and the mgmt people moving everyone around seem in over their heads. I'm a driver and they give us a radio so all day long I have to listen to missing 2 drivers here, no gate crew here, bags on the ground here. In a big operation using people that have not experienced how things are done to make decisions seems unwise. This is with a greatly reduced schedule from covid. How things will be with a full schedule is not going to be pretty.

i had assumed dfw ditched the ridiculous rovr due to the operational issues 2 summers ago. isn't that the main reason salisbury was forced out?

we know the company reads this board: attention to the company. not every station is like phx. weather, atc, intl. flights and banks....the rovr is a cute idea, but business class 201 at wharton will tell you not to use it in most cities.

if we (twu) win the crew chief grievance, they'll need more c/c. i see 60 c/c up for bid in dfw. maybe the company knows they may lose or they want to lose the grievance.

there are corrupt c/c, not many incompetent c/c. there are corrupt AND incompetent supervisors. get the rovrs out of their hands before bad weather/diversions occur. watch them handle that.

 

[Talos]

i had assumed dfw ditched the ridiculous rovr due to the operational issues 2 summers ago. isn't that the main reason salisbury was forced out?

we know the company reads this board: attention to the company. not every station is like phx. weather, atc, intl. flights and banks....the rovr is a cute idea, but business class 201 at wharton will tell you not to use it in most cities.

if we (twu) win the crew chief grievance, they'll need more c/c. i see 60 c/c up for bid in dfw. maybe the company knows they may lose or they want to lose the grievance.

there are corrupt c/c, not many incompetent c/c. there are corrupt AND incompetent supervisors. get the rovrs out of their hands before bad weather/diversions occur. watch them handle that.

No Crema, rovr usage is the thing at DFW. Gate crews moved all over, drivers go to their trip and find out Tlink changed while we are dumping the trip. There is just too much increased room for error when rovr is moving everyone around like that. Probably ok for smaller stations, but with all the gate changes and other things that arise not good for large hubs.

 

[swamt]

I don't think I was "tricked" into leaving. But after 34 years, let's just say my trust in management was seriosly lacking. March 15 could have rolled around and they could not have paid us, using delaying tactics (as thay have used in past contract negotiations) or perhaps filing for BK where I would have been a creditor thay owed money to. I just plain don't trust them.

I had been considering retiring late 2020 or early 2021 anyway. I'm 64, and didn't want to hang around there until my 70's. There are other things I want to do besides getting up before dawn, stuck in traffic commuting, etc. When they froze the TWU pensions, I upped my 401k contribution, and every raise we received since then went to the 401k. The insurance HRA would have been great, but I won't waste a second lamenting over it. I knew how much the AA retiree medical,lots of private insurance plans, and cobra monthly rates were going to cost.Cobra for 30 months at employee rates saves me at least $500/mo. and it will get me to medicare age. When I left, AA wasn't sure about the new TWU/IAM HRA in the contract, so I opted to get paid for my unused sk time, which is paying for my 30 months of cobra.

I read the same thing about $135k in retiree out of pocket medical expenses, and I agree that the company knows what they're doing. They have a whole cabal of lawyers who are the masters in the art of manipulating the fine print.

I truly hope that AAL will be "cash positive" , and stay that way. Everyone's frozen pension depends on it.

I hope everyone takes full advantage of the 401k match, Max out your 401k contributions if you can, Save save save...so you can retire before you're too old. I have zero stress, am keeping busy, and sleeping 7-8 hours a night.

There were more people I would have liked to say goodbye to, but they showed us to the door really fast.

Great story. Way to get out a bit early. Only hope I too will retire early. Good advice to the younger folks...

 

[La Li Lu Le Lo]

one of the biggest factors on the ramp for those who should leave and don't leave is the old aa/twu way of seniority dictates easy shifts and aa crew chiefs direct the work force. easy shifts still exist but the company is using hand-held devices to eliminate seniority (35 year guy may get 3 trips and a 7 year guy may get 2 trips during this pandemic schedule) and supervisors are now directing the work force -via the hand-held devices.

Good. Make them earn their keep for a change.