From: Tomtedder
Date: 10/16/2013 12:26:57 AM
Subject: Fwd: Annual Open Enrollment and Atlanta Road
Show
Hope you will include this in your next email.
Insurance Trust for Delta Retirees –
Annual Open Enrollment and Atlanta Road Show!
Annual Open Enrollment and Atlanta Road Show!
October 14 – November 8:
The Trust's 2014 Annual Open Enrollment
The Trust's 2014 Annual Open Enrollment
Trust Plan enrollment kits* are scheduled to mail by October 11, including your 2014
Benefits Guide, Annual Review, and personalized election form. If you do not
receive your kit by October 18, call Marsh at 1-877-325-7265, Option 1 to
request a kit.
Click here
for more information:
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Correction to
Survivor Benefits FAQs in HL 185: Also
this correction and FAQ’s now permanently on our Survivor Page which is a great
resource for you and your spouse: http://pcn.homestead.com/DLSurv.html
From: evan gost
Date: 10/19/2013 3:28:38 PM
To: Mark Sztanyo
Subject: RE: Survivors Benefits
M-
Mark was not aware that I had replied to you. I apologize if
I occasionally make an erroneous statement in my communications and welcome
corrections from those who find the errors and are responsible enough to inform
me. That being said, I will expand upon my last response to you.
A major problem that appears to exist is that a number of
retired pilots and their potential survivors as well as existing survivors of
deceased pilots do not have an understanding of their benefits. Many of them
either do not have access to the relevant documentation or do not seem to be
able to easily sort through legal documentation. Accordingly, we attempt to
communicate in relatively simple language that is easy to comprehend.
One of the problems in communicating about the D&S Plan
is that there have been a number of changes through the years. If we spell out
the legal terminology of each and every change, most likely few people would be
able to wade through the communication without losing concentration. For
example, the attachments will reflect the changes in the definition of a spouse
from the original document in 1972, the revision in 1986 and the revision in
1996. It would be wonderful if we could come up with a simple completely accurate
definition that applied to all situations, but that appears to be impossible.
Alternatively, we can tell people to reference documentation that they
do not understand or do not have.
In general we have opted to target the communication to the
vast majority of potential surviving spouses and that happens to be the group
that fall under the provisions of the 1996 revision of the D&S Plan. You
have raised a valid point about the few survivors who were divorced from pilots
after their retirement if the pilot retired before July 1, 1996. I already have
made a correction in that regard to the recently posted FAQ's under the News
section on the DDPSA website. I also believe that it is fitting to have Mark
post a correction on PCN. I do not think that it would be very effective to
simply tell retired pilots and their potential survivors to look at reference
material.
It would be desirable to have an expert on the definitions
of eligible family members and spouses who could sort through all of the
historical variations of the D&S Plan and provide answers to survivors,
retired pilots and potential survivors. If you would agree to take on that
responsibility, it would relieve me of some of my volunteer efforts. As it
stands now, I spend a lot of hours every week answering questions as well as
attempting to sort out issues relating to the D&S Plan.
You may not be aware of one of the issues that we addressed
that proved to be beneficial to a number of survivors. Prior to September 1,
2001, survivors of pilots who deceased before retiring were subject to the loss
of their survivor benefits if they remarried. That penalty was removed for
deaths that occurred after September 1, 2001, but remained in effect for deaths
that occurred before September 1, 2001. Under the threat of termination of
benefits, those survivors had to certify every year that they had not married.
Three DDPSA Board Members went to Atlanta in January 2011 to discuss a number
of issues with ALPA. The marriage penalty was one of those issues. The outcome
that ALPA discussed the issue with Delta. Delta initially refused to bend, but
agreed to notify ALPA before terminating benefits. Several months later, ALPA
contacted me requesting help in locating 3 survivors who had not responded to
the annual certification. Fortunately, I was able to locate them with the help
of a third party. One of survivors, who was in her 90's, hardly was a candidate
for matrimony. Eventually ALPA was able to convince Delta that the measure was
more punitive than cost savings as survivors simply were not going to marry if
marriage would result in the loss of benefits. The restriction was lifted for
marriages that occurred after July 1, 2012.
This is an example of time well spent on an issue. We
certainly could use some help to ensure that we do not burn out on our
voluntary efforts.
Ev
See below for more on this issue.
From: evan gost
Date: 10/14/2013 8:39:52 PM
To: Mark Sztanyo
Subject: Correction to the FAQ's on Survivor Benefits
Hi Mark-
I received an email informing me of an error in the
Frequently Asked Questions about Survivor Benefits that were posted on the last
PCN Blog. Apparently the requirement that the spouse be married to the pilot
continuously from the Event Date until the date of his death was not introduced
until July 1, 1996. Spouses of pilots
who retired before that date may want to contact Delta to confirm their
eligibility for survivor benefits in the event of divorce.
Ev
More:
From: evan gost
Date: 10/20/2013 12:45:23 PM
To: Mark Sztanyo
Subject: RE: Correction to the FAQ's on Survivor Benefits
Mark- Please print the
following message in the next PCN.
Thanks.
Ev
"A survivor of a deceased Delta pilot brought our
attention to an error in the Frequently Asked Questions published in the last
PCN. Those FAQ's were focused on D&S Plan survivors' benefits.
The requirements of a surviving spouse's eligibility for
monthly income survivors benefits has changed through the years. Prior to the
July 1, 1996 amendment to the D&S Plan, a spouse who met the eligibility
requirements at the time of the pilot's retirement still remained eligible if
divorce occurred after the date of retirement. However, there still was a
requirement that the pilot provided more than 50% of the spouse's support. In the case of pilots who retired between
July 1, 1996, and before January 1, 2008, the spouse must have been married to
the pilot continuously from the Event Date until the date of the pilot's death
in order to be eligible for monthly income survivor benefits. "
++++
From: email
withheld
Date: 10/17/13 06:47:52
Subject: Survivors Benefits
Question
#2 - How does the D&S define an eligible surviving spouse? Pilots
have retired under different ALPA contracts with Delta. Each contract has
a different explanation of benefits. The answer given to question 2 has
many answers and addressing only one is misleading. I would suggest all
survivors read the contract under which the pilot retired in order to know who
qualifies for survivor benefits. Please do not publish my name.
Sincerely
Name withheld by request.
Addendum: Ev will be adding an informative post in
this section from time to time so look for them. By the way, check out Ev’s
Thanksgiving week condo in Kauai in PCN Ads at. http://pilotcommunication.net/
From: evan gost
Date: 10/18/13 23:42:55
To: Mark Sztanyo
Subject: RE: Published ad
Thanks Mark. By the way, I plan to keep sending information
to PCN. Short bursts of the same information seem to work better than a long
detailed article.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Mark,
Thank you for
the information you send out. I am a Widow of a retired Pilot with Delta. He
made $15,000 a month for aprox 3 years. 40 years of service with Pacific
Northern Airlines, Western and Delta. I receive $1,600.00 a month on the
survivors benefit. You had stated $5000. In your article. I do not know with
Western Survivors if there is a difference. He retired with Delta on the
MD-11 flying to Narita and the east in July of 1993. I also know of another
widow in the same category as myself. There may be some differences in the
calculations. He also lost the retirement. I am very grateful to receive the
$1,600. A month plus I get the survivors Medical plan through the Pilots.
Thank You,
Nancy Bailey
Husband:
Robert T. Bailey
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
RE:
Survivor Benefit Web Page
From:
Chris Rieder [mailto:riederc@comcast.net]
Sent: Thursday, October 17, 2013 12:35 PM
To: Kenny Kinman
Subject: locating Mark Stanzyos
Sent: Thursday, October 17, 2013 12:35 PM
To: Kenny Kinman
Subject: locating Mark Stanzyos
I'm
a retired Delta pilot and met Mark Stanzyos (sp?) several years ago when we
both worked very briefly for Eos Airlines. A dear friend of mine, another
retired Delta pilot, passed away recently and his widow is having some
difficulty with Delta regarding her survivor benefits. As I recall, Mark
was quite knowledgable of such matters. I was hoping to put my friend's
widow, Sandy Osborne, in touch with Mark in with the hope that he
might be able to answer a few questions she has regarding the above.
I
understand that Mark work(s/ed) for you.. Could you help me out by passing
along my email and telephone number to Mark with a request that he get in touch
with me?
Chris Rieder
Editor: Chris,
I got your email from Kenny and sorry to
hear about the loss of your friend. In my newsletter Ev Gost just sent in
a FAQ's for survivors and it is quite up to date and informative:
Also, I have published
a "Survivor's Page" on the PCN website and here it is:
I sure hope this helps. Please get
back in touch if you need anything more.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Full post disclaimer in left column. PCN Home Page is located at: http://pcn.homestead.com/home01.html
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