Lots of folks when weighing their options for airlines focus on several factors. Some that are often overlooked are some of the lesser known benefits. I've included a summary of some of the lesser known ones for those who are interested in knowing & comparing what they currently have or what questions to ask of their friends at other carriers they maybe considering applying to. Hope this helps.
Long Term Disability (LTD):
DISABILITY BENEFITS
Pilot Mutual Aid (PMA):
is a voluntary selffunded
plan designed to provide monies as income
replacement to participating pilots. You must
enroll in this plan within 60 days of your date of
hire. It covers both probationary pilots and nonprobationary
pilots with income lasting up to 12
consecutive months. You may receive a maximum
of 24 total months of benefi ts should you meet
the necessary qualifi cations. Because this plan is
restricted to participating pilots, contributions to the
PMA plan, currently $14 per month, are not income
tax deductible. Distributions from the plan are not
taxed. The maximum monthly distribution is $6000,
calculated by multiplying your trip rate by 100.
PMA monies decrease to $1000 per month when
LOL or LTD become payable. We designed this plan
to specifi cally benefi t pilots who had accumulated
little or no sick leave (probationary pilots), and for
pilots who had exhausted their sick leave prior to
entering the Loss of License or Long Term Disability
plans (non-probationary pilots). Access to PMA
is simple and completely non-discriminatory for
participating pilots. For a full plan description
see the SWAPA “What If” booklet (pgs. 1-16)
and the SWAPA Pilot Mutual Aid Summary Plan
Description (16 pages) available on the Web site
(www.swapa.org) under the Benefi ts tab.
plan designed to provide monies as income
replacement to participating pilots. You must
enroll in this plan within 60 days of your date of
hire. It covers both probationary pilots and nonprobationary
pilots with income lasting up to 12
consecutive months. You may receive a maximum
of 24 total months of benefi ts should you meet
the necessary qualifi cations. Because this plan is
restricted to participating pilots, contributions to the
PMA plan, currently $14 per month, are not income
tax deductible. Distributions from the plan are not
taxed. The maximum monthly distribution is $6000,
calculated by multiplying your trip rate by 100.
PMA monies decrease to $1000 per month when
LOL or LTD become payable. We designed this plan
to specifi cally benefi t pilots who had accumulated
little or no sick leave (probationary pilots), and for
pilots who had exhausted their sick leave prior to
entering the Loss of License or Long Term Disability
plans (non-probationary pilots). Access to PMA
is simple and completely non-discriminatory for
participating pilots. For a full plan description
see the SWAPA “What If” booklet (pgs. 1-16)
and the SWAPA Pilot Mutual Aid Summary Plan
Description (16 pages) available on the Web site
(www.swapa.org) under the Benefi ts tab.
Southwest Airlines Employee Catastrophic Assistance Charity:
As the name implies this is
a charity that is available to all employees. It is
funded by tax-deductible donations via payroll
deduction and all proceeds are non-taxed. A
Board of Directors, meeting
every two weeks, reviews
your application (available online
at www.swalife.com) and
determines if and how much
assistance you may receive.
Almost $7,000,000 has been
distributed since 1990. I would
encourage all pilots to contribute
to this program. Please review
the program at www.swalife.com.
a charity that is available to all employees. It is
funded by tax-deductible donations via payroll
deduction and all proceeds are non-taxed. A
Board of Directors, meeting
every two weeks, reviews
your application (available online
at www.swalife.com) and
determines if and how much
assistance you may receive.
Almost $7,000,000 has been
distributed since 1990. I would
encourage all pilots to contribute
to this program. Please review
the program at www.swalife.com.
Loss of License (LOL):
is a Company-funded
disability plan. In order to qualify you must have
a qualifying medical event and exhaust your sick
leave or wait six months, whichever is greater. LOL
income replaces 60 percent of your predisability
income, calculated as the average of your previous
12 months earnings. The LOL monthly maximum
is currently $9500 (60 percent of $15,833.33). LOL
income is subject to federal income tax as no
premium or imputed premium is being paid by the
pilot. LOL will last for a minimum of fi ve years
with an additional one month of coverage for every
two months of service after you have been employed
for ten years. If you are ruled Social Security
disabled, LOL provides coverage to age 60. LOL
payments are funded from SWA corporate accounts.
Please refer to the Loss of License Summary Plan
Description for more specifi cs.
disability plan. In order to qualify you must have
a qualifying medical event and exhaust your sick
leave or wait six months, whichever is greater. LOL
income replaces 60 percent of your predisability
income, calculated as the average of your previous
12 months earnings. The LOL monthly maximum
is currently $9500 (60 percent of $15,833.33). LOL
income is subject to federal income tax as no
premium or imputed premium is being paid by the
pilot. LOL will last for a minimum of fi ve years
with an additional one month of coverage for every
two months of service after you have been employed
for ten years. If you are ruled Social Security
disabled, LOL provides coverage to age 60. LOL
payments are funded from SWA corporate accounts.
Please refer to the Loss of License Summary Plan
Description for more specifi cs.
Long Term Disability (LTD):
is an optional
disability income product sponsored by SWAPA
and underwritten by Standard of Oregon. It is an
experience-rated plan, that is, we pay cost plus
fees for Southwest Airlines pilots’ use only. The
plan currently provides 66 2/3 percent income
replacement with a plan maximum of $10,500 per
month (66 2/3 percent of $15,750) integrated with
and offset by our LOL plan. LTD will continue
coverage to age 60 and to age 65 if Social Security
disabled and will be the primary benefi t when LOL
benefi ts are exhausted. You must have a qualifying
medical event for access to the plan, the same as
LOL, but once on disability a secondary defi nition
of unable to earn “80 percent of your Indexed
Predisability Income” is added to the defi nition of
disability. This ensures you will have access to LTD
should you fi nd a non-pilot job until you can replace
80 percent of your predisability income. LTD
benefi ts begin after a six month waiting period even
if you have not exhausted your sick leave. Under
an agreement with SWA and Standard, a pilot may
reduce his sick leave draw and begin LTD benefits.
Using this method, full pay can be realized without
drawing full sick leave. Please refer to the Benefits
Calculator on the SWAPA Web site for further
explanation. Because pilots pay the full premium
for this plan, the benefits are non-taxed. Standard
of Oregon pays LTD benefits.
disability income product sponsored by SWAPA
and underwritten by Standard of Oregon. It is an
experience-rated plan, that is, we pay cost plus
fees for Southwest Airlines pilots’ use only. The
plan currently provides 66 2/3 percent income
replacement with a plan maximum of $10,500 per
month (66 2/3 percent of $15,750) integrated with
and offset by our LOL plan. LTD will continue
coverage to age 60 and to age 65 if Social Security
disabled and will be the primary benefi t when LOL
benefi ts are exhausted. You must have a qualifying
medical event for access to the plan, the same as
LOL, but once on disability a secondary defi nition
of unable to earn “80 percent of your Indexed
Predisability Income” is added to the defi nition of
disability. This ensures you will have access to LTD
should you fi nd a non-pilot job until you can replace
80 percent of your predisability income. LTD
benefi ts begin after a six month waiting period even
if you have not exhausted your sick leave. Under
an agreement with SWA and Standard, a pilot may
reduce his sick leave draw and begin LTD benefits.
Using this method, full pay can be realized without
drawing full sick leave. Please refer to the Benefits
Calculator on the SWAPA Web site for further
explanation. Because pilots pay the full premium
for this plan, the benefits are non-taxed. Standard
of Oregon pays LTD benefits.
