APA Benefits: At Your Service

It’s a fear for all of us — an illness or injury that grounds us. What do you do? How do you provide for your family? How do you keep a roof over your head and food on the table? For the pilots of APA, that shouldn’t be a concern. With two separate benefits-focused committees as well as an entire Benefits Department, the pilots of American Airlines can rest easy knowing that they and their families WILL be taken care of.

“One of the challenges we have is that membership really struggles with who to contact for benefits questions,” Director of Benefits Marcy Scott said. “BRAB — the Benefits Review and Appeals Board — oversees the APA-sponsored plans. The Retirement and Benefits Committee oversees the Company’s plans.”

We deliver the best results for our pilots because we represent you first, foremost, and exclusively.

The APA benefits team could easily be described as masters of their craft. It’s quickly evident when speaking to members of the APA Benefits Department that they are incredibly knowledgeable. They are also passionate about the work they do. Marcy and the entirety of her team are always willing to help members with any questions they have. “At the end of the day, we want our members to have peace of mind that they have a team that is here to walk alongside them and their families,” she said. “We don’t rest until we know calls and emails are responded to in a timely manner and issues are resolved. Even after hours and weekends, emails are monitored to look for emergency situations. Non-emergency situations wait until the next business day.”

“When in doubt, call the APA Benefits Department,” Retirement and Benefits Committee Deputy Chair FO Bogomir Glavan said. “They are amazing at working one-on-one to get you in the right direction. They have seen about every scenario out there and are passionate about their service to our group.”

APA: Ensuring our pilots are taken care of, even after your Fini Flight.

We all look forward to unpacking our suitcases for the final time. And we all have plans for how we want to spend our retirement. Yet, for many, the financial planning for retirement can be stressful. That’s where the Retirement and Benefits Committee comes in. “Retirement and Benefits helps support our pilots via the benefits side in planning for contingencies and taking care of their personal well-being and their families financially,” said FO Glavan. “On the retirement side, we help by monitoring the 401(k) plan and educating the members on current IRS contribution rules and limits.”

According to R&B Committee Chair FO Brian Bell, “We interact with American in a unique way. Our role isn’t as a fiduciary, but we have oversight. We discuss performance of the funds in the plans with our advisors and the Company’s advisors alongside Fidelity. We’re also heavily involved with the design and implementation of our new market-based cash balance plan that we were able to achieve in our new contract.” FO Bell, who also serves as Government Affairs Committee Deputy Chair, noted that “our work on Capitol Hill with the Government Affairs Committee has also aided our pilots as they look toward retirement.”

Retirement should be a joyous, relaxing time for pilots. And the R&B Committee has the tools to make sure your retirement is exactly that. “Please make use of our pre-retirement checklist made just for pilots,” said FO Glavan. “We realized there was an abundant amount of information scattered across multiple sources and many pilots stated they didn’t know where to start in planning for their retirement. We created a document two years ago that spans their entire career and even goes past retirement with various milestones and items to consider as they plan. We also wanted to provide something for our younger pilots to begin planning early, so you will see items that pertain to new hires as well.”

These resources are located on the R&B Committee’s page on AlliedPilots.org. “Educate yourself on the various benefits available to pilots,” said FO Glavan. “It may not be just to your advantage, but you could also help a peer who may be in need and is unaware of the tools available to them.”

APA delivers best-in-class programs, and other unions follow our lead. Our supplemental insurance programs and long-term disability are second to none.

“We’re here to provide the best product we can for membership. We’re helping the pilots cover their needs,” BRAB Chair CA Kerry Burklow said. “It is an unfortunate fact of life: You never know when a major illness or an accident may occur. But that’s where APA’s host of plans comes in. Whether it’s providing for your family after an injury that grounds you or ensuring your family will have financial support in the event of your untimely death, there are plans for that.”

A great example of this is the Pilot Mutual Aid (PMA) plan, as well as the Pilot Occupational Disability (POD) plan. While our new contract has given pilots a way to help bridge the gap between sick time and long-term disability, APA’s PMA and POD plans allow pilots to supplement the long-term disability benefits provided by the Company. As APA Retirement and Disability Benefits Manager Joanne Goldfarb said in our latest town hall, “The Company plan only gives 50% of a pilot’s pre-disability income. For pilots who don’t feel like 50% of their normal wages is enough to get by on, POD and PMA supplement for the short term.”

APA’s benefits and insurance are Industry leading, with only one focus: YOU.

Ultimately, if there is one thing to know about benefits here at APA, it’s that APA’s benefits teams are the best out there. Marcy says it perfectly: “We have a wonderful benefits team here to support you. We’re here to answer your questions. We love our job. We love supporting our members.”

For more details about the supplemental benefits that your union offers, we recommend reading this Q&A featuring Marcy and Joanne.