So you work for an airline. Chances are you may be getting somewhat air sick, what with the cutbacks, layoffs, givebacks, bankruptcies, speedups, slowdowns, mergers, bomb plots and general chaos of the industry. And after a rough day confronting irate passengers, maintenance snafus, weather delays and rebooking nightmares, you get a notice or see on the news that your pension may be “amended.” Airline workers are angry, and with good reason. It’s challenging enough working in a fast-changing industry, but to fly into a pension-and-benefit storm at the end of the day is just too much.

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Repercussions of Northwest’s pension freeze continue to complicate the company’s relations with the airline’s 4,500 pilots. However, the two sides joined December 11 in a federal lawsuit to gain approval of the airline’s restructured benefit plan. The action pits some longer-serving pilots against pilots with shorter service, and involves how benefits are allocated and the terms under which future benefits can be earned. Northwest took the option of freezing plans instead of terminating them, and claims it was thereby able to preserve over $2 billion in pension benefits. Shorter-service pilots claim they are being short-changed and have contested the restructuring plan.

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“Many who remain feel trapped because all their work experience is in the airline industry, they feel they are too old to start over and, with their pensions reduced, they can't afford to retire.”

-- MSNBC, July 3, 2007

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1. So you work for an airline...
2. How are airline pensions structured?
3. Will your retirement be a smooth landing?
4. Pension under-funding means rough weather ahead
5. Where do I go to find out about my pension?
6. Contact info for airline companies