This page only applies if you were hired by Delta Air Lines after February 1972 – or were originally hired by Western or Pan Am - and retired on or after July 1, 2002.

Appeal issues affecting you

1. The PBGC is calculating your benefit based on an FAE of $170,000, the limit in place in the 2001 plan year. They should be using a limit value of $200,000 for pilots who retired in the 2002, 2003, and 2004 plan years, and a value of $201,667 for those who retired during the 2005 plan year. This costs every pilot who retired at age 60 in the plan years after 2001, $1,500/mo. It costs everyone who retired on or after July 1, 2002, 15% of his or her total Qualified pension (that is $1,500/mo for retirement at age 60, $1275 if you retired at age 55, and $1050 if you retired at age 50).
   
   
2. The PBGC is basing your maximum payout from the pension plan on the 2003 plan year value of $160,000. While this has no affect on pilots in this group who retired when they were over about 57 years old, this value is reduced significantly if you retired before age 57.
   
   This maximum payout was based on $175,000 when the plan was suspended in 2006.
   
   Here is how this can affect the benefit of younger retirees:
   
   

   Age	2006 Limit	2003 Limit	Benefit Reduction
   Age 55	$8642.81	$7968.13	-$674.68
   Age 50	$6176.63	$5724.13	-$452.50

   
   
3. Those pilots who retired after 9/1/2003 have had their age and length of service reduced to the actual age and length of service on 9/1/2003. This most affects younger retirees who retired close to the date of plan termination ( September 2, 2006).
   
   The DP3 legal team is actively working on the most effective method for addressing this issue.
   

Should I appeal?

Every retiree in the category addressed on this page (post 72 hire, post 2001 retire) will gain significantly from successful appeals. Success in appeal #1 above will mean hundreds of millions of dollars to the 2500 retirees in this category. Yet we only have about half of the 2500 in this category on board as HR members.

If you are in this category, yes you should appeal. And you should be calling everybody you know in this group and demanding that they either join DP3 or sign a document giving the members of DP3 any gains we acquire for them.

If we got 1000 more HR members it would dramatically reduce, and probably eliminate, any future financial burdens the appeals process might put on our current membership.

Everyone in the category should appeal.

Rare Exceptions and additional details

If you retired with an FAE less than $170,000 you will not benefit from the appeal #1 above. We have encountered 2 retirees in that category.

The reductions caused by the IRC issues in #1 and #2 overlap. That is, if #1 is successfully appealed, but #2 is not, a 55 year old would still be reduced by $674.68 due to the 415b look backs in #2. He would see a gain of $1275 - $674.68 = $600.32.

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