PBGC offers facts on AA

[FWAAA]

I'm assuming that retired AA pilots chose the lump-sum option for their A-plan balance, so they won't be affected. If they didn't take the lump-sum, their retirement will be trimmed no matter what age they retired. For those who have accumulated a large pension accrual but have yet to retire (say, those with 25+ years of service and who are 55+ years old), they're screwed, as their A-Plan payments will be limited to the PBGC maximums of $4,500 or less per month (less if they retire prior to 65 or choose the joint & survivor annuity).

tech: not only the UA pilots but also the US and DL pilots were hit with the double whammy of relatively small PBGC limits plus the reduction for age 60 retirement (which was forced until what, 5 years ago?).

 

[BoeingBoy]

For those who have accumulated a large pension accrual but have yet to retire (say, those with 25+ years of service and who are 55+ years old), they're screwed, as their A-Plan payments will be limited to the PBGC maximums of $4,500 or less per month (less if they retire prior to 65 or choose the joint & survivor annuity).

Without knowing the specifics of AA's DB plan for pilots, there will be an age above which the screwing may be less. It all depends on how much money is in the plan versus how much liability there is for those above that age.

With the termination of the US pilot's plan, the magic age was 50 - the youngest one could retire and get their retirement benefit. Pilots who met that age threshold were classified PC3 and those who didn't were PC4. Since the PBGC calculates benefits under the terminated plan as though each pilot retired 3 years prior to termination (now 3 years prior to entering bankruptcy instead), anyone over 53 qualified for retirement under the plan. There was just enough money in the plan to cover the calculated benefit for PC3's so they got their calculated benefit upon actual retirement - nearly double the PBGC maximum guarantee. PC4's got the guaranteed maximum if they didn't start drawing their benefit till age 65. In addition, since PC3's had a set calculated benefit the amount was fixed and didn't depend on the age that a pilot actually retired. PC4's benefit increased the longer they waited to collect.

Jim