Will I Benefit From Successful PBGC Appeals?

Summary of the information provided on this page

There are two areas of appeal: PBGC policy issues and DAL original calculation issues. These are discussed in the Areas of Appeal section below.

There are several easy ways to confirm your potential gain from the policy appeals. Two of these are discussed in the Will I benefit from successful DP3 consolidated appeals of PBGC policy section below.

There are issues specific to different groups of retirees. These are discussed in the links in the Check out your Issues section below.

Areas of Appeal

There are at least 3,500 of the 6,500 currently retired Delta pilots who will clearly benefit from successful DP3 consolidated appeals of PBGC policy. These appeals represent a total of $654 million in lost benefits (present value) or an individual average of about $1,200 per month. The methods for ascertaining whether you are in this group are below.

Additionally, we are including a request for the PBGC to confirm that Delta's original retirement calculations were done correctly. Our concern is not the way the total benefit was calculated, but is the way the benefit was split between the Qualified plan currently being administered by the PBGC, and the Non Qualified plan which was treated as an unsecured debt settlement by the bankruptcy court. The outcome of this appeal issue could affect many more of the currently retired pilots. We do not believe the potential gains from this appeal will be more than a fraction of the potential benefit from the policy appeals described in the previous paragraph.

Will I benefit from successful DP3 consolidated appeals of PBGC policy?

The quickest way to check (this information can be located on your BDL, BSW, or from pay statements – the BDL and pay statements are explained here):

Benefit Determination Letter (be sure to click on the examples for easy understanding):

1. This is the letter the PBGC sent you, typically sometime in the last 18 months, advising you of the benefit they plan to pay you. It included a document titled Benefit Statement. Click for an example of what a complete final BDL looks like.
2. The amount you are currently being paid, before deductions, is listed in the body of the letter (click for example 1 or click for example 2), and in the Benefit Statement on the first page, under the heading Summary of Participant's Benefits (marked #1 in example). The value is on the line titled PBGC Monthly Benefit at Date of Plan Termination (marked #2). [Note: It may have "Payable before (your 65th birthday month)" on one line and "Payable after (your 65th birthday month)" on the next line. That refers to the application of the Social Security offset (click here for the FAQs for more on Social Security offset).]
3. Now find the amount you were being paid at plan termination (the value of your 9/1/2006 payment from the plan). On the second page of your benefit statement (click for example 1 or click for example 2), under the heading Your Benefit History (marked #3), on the line Plan Monthly Benefit (marked #4) at Date of Plan Termination (before the date the Social Security offset begins), you will see the value you were being paid at plan termination.
4. Compare the value in step 2 with the value in step 3. If they are not within $50 to $100 of each other, it is likely you will benefit from successful appeals. Please note that if you turned 65 or advised the PBGC you were receiving Social Security between the date of plan termination and the date your received your BDL, the value in step 2 will be reduced by the Social Security offset.

Pay statements (be sure to click on the examples for easy understanding):

1. Find your September 2006 pay statement (click for example) from the Delta Air Lines Pilots Retirement Trust (title marked with blue arrow).
2. On that pay statement locate the value on the left hand side labeled Total Earnings (marked with blue arrows).
3. You are going to compare that with the gross (before deductions) amount the PBGC is paying you now. This will be indicated on any recent pay statements from the PBGC. This value can also be found on your Benefit Determination Letter as described in step 2 of the section above this one.
4. If the value of step 2 is more than $50 to $100 greater than the value in step 3, you will potentially benefit from successful appeals.

DP3 Benefit Calculator Lite

DP3 is pleased to provide a method for non-members to assess their potential for benefiting from several of DP3's global policy appeal issues. Current Honor Roll members already have access to a more detailed calculator that also provides a means of checking the accuracy of the PBGC calculations.

We call it Calculator Lite and it will only work for those retirees who were hired after 2/1/1972 and retired on or after 7/1/2002. The reason that other retirees cannot use the calculator is explained in the blog APB #2 . Although we have spent an extraordinary amount of time working on the issues for the earlier retirees, the lack of data and procedural explanations from the PBGC has made it impossible to provide an accurate calculator for them at this time. This will likely be an appeal issue.

Calculator Lite will provide the approximate benefit you will receive if we are successful in removing the 4th and 5th years of the look backs on the 401a limits, as well as the approximate benefit you will receive if we are successful in also removing the 3 year look backs on 401a and 415b limits. (Note that if we also are able to remove the 3 year age and length of service look backs, you will receive the same benefit you received on 9/1/2006. You will need to ascertain that value from your records.)

Click this link: Calculator Lite. You do not need a password.

Check out your specific issues

There are several different groups of retirees who are affected by different aspects of the policy issues. Here are links to discussions of the issues affecting you, based on hire date and retirement date: