Benefits for ‘special situation’ Survivors
Dear PCN,
Diane,
married Capt Peter Lucker while he was disabled and he never returned to active
service passing away in 2008. Our negotiated
contract survivor benefits would apply to spouses who married an employee at
least 12 mos before a life-event ocurred, such as Peter’s disability. Unfortunately, like so many spouses, Diane
does not meet this 12 mo
restriction.
Question: There must be a lot of other survivors within
our group in a similar situation. Can you share, what if any, are any financial, or employee perks or
benefits available for this type of retiree survivor? I and Diane thank you in advance!
In
addition: On a personal note, would
anyone be willing to offer Diane a companion or buddy status on their annual
pass allotment?
++++
Dear Diane,
First, I am so sorry for
your loss of Peter and I hope you are doing well. The rules set up for
survivor benefits draw lines and sometimes those lines seem rather harsh.
You are correct that most financial and retiree benefits are predicated on a
marriage that takes place at least 12 mos before the 'life event' in this
case Peter's disability. Since I assume that didn't occur in
your case, the negotiated contract limits the help that is
available to you and I am sorry about that.
As to the AMEX card, I
am afraid again it is some disappointing news on the annual fee
waiver. The fee waiver is available to active employees or retirees and
no where is there info that this extends to the married or surviving
spouse. So my lwife today would not qualify. Your situation would
not work with this card either for the waiver, but that said the
card including the annual fee still provides a descent skymile
benefit so with your travel needs it may still be something to consider.
Since I do not know the
complete picture on those in your situation I am going to ask the group for
just what perk or benefit may be available to those like you in your
situation. I will even ask the group if someone would be willing to list
you as a companion or buddy.
Thanks for staying
connected and we'll see what the group says in response after the next
newsletter.
Gost's FAQ's for Survivors: http://pcn.homestead.com/files/Misc_Files/Gost/Survivor_benefits_FAQs_02.pdf
Mark
Mark Sztanyo
PCN Dir
Re: PCN -
Delta AMEX Skymiles Gold Card holders - DON'T PANIC!!!!
Mark, thanks for what you are doing for the
Delta retirees. I wonder if you could help me or point me in the right
direction for a problem I have. My deceased husband, Captain Peter T.
Lucker and I married during his disability and he never was able to go back to
flying. He died, April 5, 2008. As you may already know, the
pilot’s contract denied any funds or flying privileges to the remaining spouses
in these situations.
I know I can’t get financial help but I wish
there was a way I could drop the fee on my Delta AMX as well as get the
discounts on industry travel – Interline. I’ve been praying for a
Companion Card but so far, no prayers have been answered. I have a
son and his family that live in London and Australia and wish I could get some
kind of Delta benefit.
Mark, if it’s possible to find someone in
Delta corporate who will consider a letter to show that I am “part of the Delta
Family,” maybe I could get a small piece of Delta’s retiree advantages. It
doesn’t seem that it will take anything away from Delta.
Thanks for any advice you can offer.
Best Regards,
Diane London
The London Group
678-662-9081 Mobile
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
De-Regulation Re-Visit – You
may or may not agree with this perspective, but interesting for sure.
From: Tony P
Date: 10/23/19 18:38:37
Subject: Fw: 10/24/1978 : Deregulation
The
first of 2 - a busy day in airline history.
Tony
P
Life
is Good
In
God We Trust
A Law That Changed The Airline Industry Beyond Recognition
On Oct. 24,
1978, when President Jimmy Carter [gave Panama Canal to the ChiComs; destroyed
our friendship with Iran, allowed the start today’s Muslim terrorism, unable to
free American hostages] signed the Airline Deregulation Act, the airline
industry changed forever, and it can be argued we’re feeling the repercussions
still to this day.
The
Deregulation Act
dissolved the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), which regulated U.S. airlines like
a public utility, setting where they could fly and what fares they could
charge. Without the CAB’s guaranteed rate of return, many airlines – Pan Am,
Eastern Air Lines, Braniff, Trans World, Frontier, Western, Southern, North
Central, National, Lake Central, Mohawk, Ozark, Bonanza, Trans Texas – found
unregulated competition on their more lucrative routes in the new world of open
markets and eventually were consigned to the dustbin of aviation history.
Before Deregulation, airlines competed on
service alone, as fares were set by the government. Many remember this era
fondly as the “golden age of aviation,” when stewardesses carved chateaubriand
on rolling silver carts and airlines put piano lounges in the upper decks of
their Boeing 747s. Passengers dressed nicely to board flights, and flying was
glamorous and exciting.
Deregulation resulted in the rise of a new
kind of airline—the low-cost carrier (LCC). At the time of Deregulation,
Southwest Airlines was a small regional airline, prevented by CAB rules from
flying outside of Texas. Today, Southwest is the largest domestic U.S. carrier
in terms of passenger traffic, something no one could have foreseen in 1978.
Southwest is a success story, but
Deregulation allowed airlines to innovate new business models. People Express,
Air Florida, Valujet, Midway, & New York Air may have come and gone but
they shook the world of the U.S. airline industry. We may peer through our
rose-colored glasses and yearn for the days of chateaubriand and piano lounges,
but ultimately companies like Southwest, and newer ones like Spirit, allowed
more people to fly more often.
Deregulation left the international carriers,
like Pan Am and Trans World Airways [incorrect, TWA had domestic routes],
without domestic feeder networks, and it allowed domestic carriers, like Delta
Air Lines, to apply for international routes. Pan Am scrambled to create
domestic networks but ultimately was unsuccessful.
And some
argue that the massive consolidation of the U.S. airline industry in the last
decade, which has resulted in three large carriers —four, when Southwest is
included—is Deregulation’s final act. The network carriers that survive—Delta,
United, and American—learned to be tough competitors, and combined existing
domestic networks with the international networks acquired in large part from
carriers like Pan Am that didn’t make it.
[Braniff immediately expanded into 30 new
markets. They didn’t have gates, ticket offices nor equipment to operate these
new cities: Braniff was gone.
PanAmerican had recently bought National
Airlines to get a domestic route structure to feed their international routes.
If PAA had waited for deregulation, they could have invented their own domestic
route structure. PAA and National are today, gone.
Eastern was buried with bad decisions from
its Board of Directors, controlled by Laurance Rockefeller. The revolt of upper
management against President Higginbottom, the selection of Borman over Bill
Howard as President, the purchase of the unneeded 757 (orchestrated by
Rockefeller to bail out Boeing), the loss of the Consolidated Freight Contract,
AND the giving of the lucrative Charlotte hub to Piedmont were all coffin
nails. Couple these mistakes with management ALLOWING the
ramp-service-controlled IAM to be the tail wagging the dog was the recipe for
disaster.
Steve]
From: Tony P
Date: 10/23/19 18:41:37
Subject: Fw: 10/24/1978 41 Years of Airline Deregulation
– The Regulated Years - World Airline Historical Society
#2.
Some familiar names and a great synopsis of Jimmy's legacy.
Tony
P
Life
is Good
In
God We Trust
Why our airline(s) is (are) gone. - or declared bankruptcy,
etc.
Marvelous history of our nation’s airlines.
Steve
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