Obtaining the Value of Your Pension Benefits
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Value of Your Pension Benefit
What does a pension mean to you? An individual defined benefit pension is determined according to your earnings and years of service with the company. This type of pension promises the certainty of a defined benefit when you retire for the work performed throughout your career. Follow the steps below to approximate the extent to which a pension plan termination would affect you individually.
Request Your Pension Information
ERISA requires United’s Pension Benefit Department to annually provide an estimated pension benefit upon request. In addition to thoroughly explaining your pension payment options and other individual pension considerations, the estimate will include information about your frozen/protected pension benefit, your final average earnings benefit, any applicable transfer accrued benefit from another department and your participation start date. Keep in mind that the pension estimate may run lower than your actual benefit as future work is based on a 65 hour month.
To Fill Out the Postcard for Your Pension Estimate:
- “The last day I expect to work for United MM/DD/YYYY”
In order to receive a benefit estimate under our retirement plan, it is important that you input a date under which you will be at least age 55 for early retirement and 60 or older for full retirement. NOTE: if you were age 50 with 10 years of service on May 1, 2003, you do qualify for Flight Attendant retirement prior to age 55.
For example: if your birthday is January 15, 1965, you should input a date no less than 01/15/2020.
- “The date I want my pension benefit to start MM/01/YYYY”
Your pension benefit, or monthly pension payment, will start no earlier than the first day of the month following the last day of your employment.
For example: if your last day of employment is March 31, 2010, the first day you may indicate as your pension benefit start date is 04/01/2010.
- Once you have determined your estimated retirement date and pension benefit start date, be sure to fill in your name, file number, address and signature, and drop it in the mail or an AFA box. NOTE: If you are planning to retire within the next 12 months, we recommend you send your request certified mail.
Obtain a Pension Benefit Estimate Comparison through SkyNet
You may also run your pension benefit estimate through SkyNet at the domiciles; however, you will not be able to print it.
- Go to the SkyNet homepage and look for “Quick Hits” on the upper left hand corner of the homepage.
- Click on “PeopleNet” and once there, click on “My Pension Estimator” under “My Info” in the upper left hand corner of the page.
Utilizing this estimator also provides you with the ability of inputting “optional information” such as different “monthly final earnings” to override United’s estimated future work based on a 65 hour month. Increasing this amount would more accurately reflect your earnings for the final average earnings benefit that uses your final highest 60 consecutive months in the last 120 months of service.
Once you receive your pension estimate from United, we encourage you to run another pension estimate on SkyNet with the “last day employed at United” to be 01/01/2005, in order to review an estimate of your pension benefit should United terminate our pension plans in the near future. This will enable you to compare the amounts under the present defined benefit plan continuing versus what you would receive if the plan terminates.
