Employee Benefit Plans

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2021

Retirement Benefits [Abstract]

Employee Benefit Plans

EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS

We sponsor defined benefit and defined contribution pension plans, healthcare plans and disability and survivorship plans for eligible employees and retirees and their eligible family members.

Defined Benefit Pension Plans. We sponsor defined benefit pension plans for eligible employees and retirees. These plans are closed to new entrants and frozen for future benefit accruals. Our funding obligations for qualified defined benefit plans are governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and any applicable legislation. Under the Pension Protection Act of 2006, we elected alternative funding rules so that the unfunded liability for a frozen defined benefit plan may be amortized over a fixed 17-year period and is calculated using an 8.85% discount rate until the 17-year period expires for all frozen defined benefit plans by the end of 2024. Upon expiration, under recent legislation passed in 2021, any required funding would be amortized over a rolling 15-year period and calculated using a discount rate of no less than 4.75% through 2030. We have no minimum funding requirements for these plans in 2022 and do not plan to make voluntary contributions during 2022.

Defined Contribution Pension Plans. We sponsor several defined contribution plans. These plans generally cover different employee groups and employer contributions vary by plan. The costs associated with our defined contribution pension plans were approximately $875 million, $805 million and $1.0 billion for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively.

Postretirement Healthcare Plans. We sponsor healthcare plans that provide benefits to eligible retirees and their dependents who are under age 65. We have generally eliminated company-paid post age 65 healthcare coverage, except for (1) subsidies available to a limited group of retirees and their dependents, (2) a group of retirees who retired prior to 1987 and (3) retiree medical accounts which provide a fixed dollar amount to eligible employees who retired under the 2012 voluntary workforce reduction programs or under the 2020 voluntary early retirement and separation programs ("voluntary programs"). Benefits under these plans are funded from current assets and employee contributions.

During 2020, we remeasured our postretirement healthcare obligation to account for the retiree medical accounts provided to eligible participants in our voluntary programs. As a result, we recorded a $1.3 billion special termination benefit charge and increased our postretirement healthcare obligation by $1.3 billion.

Postemployment Plans. We provide certain other welfare benefits to eligible former or inactive employees after employment but before retirement, primarily as part of the disability and survivorship plans. Substantially all employees are eligible for benefits under these plans in the event of death and/or disability.

Benefit Obligations, Fair Value of Plan Assets and Funded Status

	Pension Benefits				Other Postretirement and Postemployment Benefits
	December 31,				December 31,
(in millions)	2021		2020		2021		2020
Benefit obligation at beginning of period	$	22,626	$	21,199	$	4,766	$	3,379
Service cost	—		—		86		96
Interest cost	582		700		117		120
Actuarial (gain)/loss	(851)		2,051		23		247
Benefits paid, including lump sums and annuities	(1,279)		(1,233)		(405)		(356)
Participant contributions	—		—		18		20
Special termination benefits	—		—		—		1,260
Settlements	(5)		(91)		—		—
Benefit obligation at end of period(1)	$	21,073	$	22,626	$	4,605	$	4,766
Fair value of plan assets at beginning of period	$	16,541	$	15,845	$	496	$	607
Actual gain on plan assets	2,732		1,973		57		76
Employer contributions	1,513		47		192		189
Participant contributions	—		—		18		20
Benefits paid, including lump sums and annuities	(1,279)		(1,233)		(406)		(396)
Settlements	(5)		(91)		—		—
Fair value of plan assets at end of period	$	19,502	$	16,541	$	357	$	496
Funded status at end of period	$	(1,571)	$	(6,085)	$	(4,248)	$	(4,270)

(1)At the end of each year presented, our accumulated benefit obligations for our pension plans are equal to the benefit obligations shown above.

During 2021, actuarial gains decreased our benefit obligation due to the increase in discount rate, while in 2020 our obligation increased due to the actuarial losses from a decrease in discount rates. These gains and losses are recorded in AOCI and reflected in the table below. Amounts are generally amortized from AOCI over the expected future lifetime of plan participants.

Balance Sheet Position

	Pension Benefits				Other Postretirement and Postemployment Benefits
	December 31,				December 31,
(in millions)	2021		2020		2021		2020
Current liabilities	$	(9)	$	(10)	$	(203)	$	(143)
Noncurrent liabilities	(1,562)		(6,075)		(4,045)		(4,127)
Total liabilities	$	(1,571)	$	(6,085)	$	(4,248)	$	(4,270)
Net actuarial loss	$	(7,462)	$	(9,878)	$	(831)	$	(886)
Prior service credit	—		—		23		29
Total accumulated other comprehensive loss, pre-tax	$	(7,462)	$	(9,878)	$	(808)	$	(857)

Net Periodic (Benefit) Cost

	Pension Benefits						Other Postretirement and Postemployment Benefits
	Year Ended December 31,						Year Ended December 31,
(in millions)	2021		2020		2019		2021		2020		2019
Service cost	$	—	$	—	$	—	$	86	$	96	$	83
Interest cost	582		700		833		117		120		137
Expected return on plan assets	(1,522)		(1,373)		(1,186)		(34)		(44)		(47)
Amortization of prior service credit	—		—		—		(6)		(9)		(9)
Recognized net actuarial loss	354		300		291		55		44		37
Settlements	2		38		5		—		—		—
Special termination benefits	—		—		—		—		1,260		—
Net periodic (benefit) cost	$	(584)	$	(335)	$	(57)	$	218	$	1,467	$	201

Service cost is recorded in salaries and related costs in the income statement. Special termination benefits are recorded in restructuring charges, while all other components are recorded within pension and related benefit/(expense) under non-operating expense.

Assumptions

We used the following actuarial assumptions to determine our benefit obligations and our net periodic benefit cost for the periods presented:

	December 31,
Benefit Obligations(1)	2021		2020
Weighted average discount rate	2.97	%	2.62	%

	Year Ended December 31,
Net Periodic (Benefit) Cost(1)	2021		2020		2019
Weighted average discount rate - pension benefit	2.65	%	3.40	%	4.33	%
Weighted average discount rate - other postretirement benefit	2.43	%	3.47	%	4.32	%
Weighted average discount rate - other postemployment benefit	2.55	%	3.34	%	4.32	%
Weighted average expected long-term rate of return on plan assets	8.98	%	8.97	%	8.97	%
Assumed healthcare cost trend rate for the next year(2)	6.25	%	6.25	%	6.50	%

(1)Future employee compensation levels do not impact our frozen defined benefit pension plans or other postretirement plans and impact only a small portion of our other postemployment obligation.

(2)Healthcare cost trend rate is assumed to decline gradually to 5.00% by 2028 and remain unchanged thereafter.

Expected Long-Term Rate of Return. Our expected long-term rate of return on plan assets is based primarily on plan-specific investment studies using historical market return and volatility data. Modest excess return expectations versus some public market indices are incorporated into the return projections based on the actively managed structure of the investment programs and their records of achieving such returns historically. We also expect to receive a premium for investing in less liquid private markets. We review our rate of return on plan assets assumptions annually. Our annual investment performance for one particular year does not, by itself, significantly influence our evaluation. The investment strategy for our defined benefit pension plan assets is to earn a long-term return that meets or exceeds our annualized return target while taking an acceptable level of risk and maintaining sufficient liquidity to pay current benefits and other cash obligations of the plan. This is achieved by investing in a globally diversified mix of public and private equity, fixed income, real assets, hedge funds and other assets and instruments. Our weighted average expected long-term rate of return on assets for net periodic benefit cost for the year ended December 31, 2021 was 8.98%.

Life Expectancy. Changes in life expectancy may significantly impact our benefit obligations and future net periodic benefit cost. We use the Society of Actuaries ("SOA") published mortality data and other publicly available information to develop our best estimate of life expectancy. The SOA publishes updated mortality tables for U.S. plans and updated improvement scales. Each year we consider updates by the SOA in setting our mortality assumptions for purposes of measuring pension and other postretirement and postemployment benefit obligations.

Benefit Payments

Benefit payments in the table below are based on the same assumptions used to measure the related benefit obligations. Actual benefit payments may vary significantly from these estimates. Benefits earned under our pension plans and certain postemployment benefit plans are expected to be paid from funded benefit plan trusts, while our other postretirement benefits are funded from current assets.

The following table summarizes the benefit payments that are expected to be paid in the years ending December 31:

Expected future benefit payments
(in millions)	Pension Benefits		Other Postretirement and Postemployment Benefits
2022	$	1,290	$	420
2023	1,280		460
2024	1,270		460
2025	1,270		460
2026	1,260		460
2027-2031	6,110		2,160

Plan Assets

We have adopted and implemented investment policies for our defined benefit pension plans that incorporate strategic asset allocation mixes intended to best meet the plans' long-term obligations, while maintaining an appropriate level of risk and liquidity. These asset portfolios employ a diversified mix of investments, which are reviewed periodically. Active management strategies are utilized where feasible in an effort to realize investment returns in excess of market indices. Derivatives in the plans are primarily used to manage risk and gain asset class exposure while still maintaining liquidity. As part of these strategies, the plans are required to hold cash collateral associated with certain derivatives. Our investment strategies target a mix of 30-50% growth-seeking assets, 25-35% income-generating assets and 30-40% risk-diversifying assets. Risk diversifying assets include hedged mandates implementing long-short, market neutral and relative value strategies that invest primarily in publicly-traded equity, fixed income, foreign currency and commodity securities and are used to improve the impact of active management on the plans.

Benefit Plan Assets Measured at Fair Value on a Recurring Basis

Benefit Plan Assets. Benefit plan assets relate to our defined benefit pension plans and certain of our postemployment benefit plans. These investments are presented net of the related benefit obligation in pension, postretirement and related benefits on the balance sheets. See Note 3, "Fair Value Measurements," for a description of the levels within the fair value hierarchy and associated valuation techniques used to measure fair value. The following table shows our benefit plan assets by asset class.

Benefit plan assets measured at fair value on a recurring basis
	December 31, 2021						December 31, 2020						Valuation Technique
(in millions)	Level 1		Level 2		Total		Level 1		Level 2		Total
Cash equivalents	$	2,390	$	2,097	$	4,487	$	305	$	3,359	$	3,664	(a)
Equities and equity-related instruments	1,034		161		1,195		1,061		59		1,120		(a)
Fixed income and fixed income-related instruments	69		979		1,048		—		882		882		(a)(b)
Delta common stock	407		—		407		507		—		507		(a)
Real assets	—		256		256		—		—		—		(a)
Benefit plan assets	$	3,900	$	3,493	$	7,393	$	1,873	$	4,300	$	6,173
Investments measured at net asset value ("NAV")(1)					12,653						10,427
Total benefit plan assets					$	20,046					$	16,600

(1) Investments that were measured at NAV per share (or its equivalent) as a practical expedient have not been classified in the fair value hierarchy.

Cash Equivalents. These investments primarily consist of high-quality, short-term obligations that are a part of institutional money market mutual funds that are valued using current market quotations or an appropriate substitute that reflects current market conditions.

Equities and Equity-Related Instruments. These investments include common stock and equity-related instruments. Common stock is valued at the closing price reported on the active market on which the individual securities are traded. Equity-related instruments include investments in securities traded on exchanges, including listed futures and options, which are valued at the last reported sale prices on the last business day of the year or, if not available, the last reported bid prices. Over-the-counter securities are valued at the bid prices or the average of the bid and ask prices on the last business day of the year from published sources or, if not available, from other sources considered reliable, generally broker quotes.

Fixed Income and Fixed Income-Related Instruments. These investments include corporate bonds, government bonds, collateralized mortgage obligations and other asset-backed securities, and are generally valued at the bid price or the average of the bid and ask price. Prices are based on pricing models, quoted prices of securities with similar characteristics or broker quotes. Fixed income-related instruments include investments in securities traded on exchanges, including listed futures and options, which are valued at the last reported sale prices on the last business day of the year, or if not available, the last reported bid prices. Over-the-counter securities are valued at the bid prices or the average of the bid and ask prices on the last business day of the year from published sources or, if not available, from other sources considered reliable, generally broker quotes.

Delta Common Stock. The Delta common stock investment is managed by an independent fiduciary.

Real Assets. These investments include precious metals and precious metals-related instruments, some of which are valued at the closing price reported on the active market on which the individual instruments are traded, while others are priced based on pricing models, quoted prices of securities with similar characteristics or broker quotes.

The following table summarizes investments measured at fair value based on NAV per share as a practical expedient:

Benefit plan investment assets measured at NAV
	December 31, 2021				December 31, 2020
(in millions)	Fair Value		Redemption Frequency	Redemption Notice Period	Fair Value		Redemption Frequency	Redemption Notice Period
Hedge funds and hedge fund-related strategies(4)	$	7,563	(3)	2-180 Days	$	5,474	(3)	2-180 Days
Commingled funds, private equity and private equity-related instruments(4)	2,228		(3)	3-45 Days	2,136		(3)	3-30 Days
Fixed income and fixed income-related instruments(4)	877		(3)	65-90 Days	1,118		(3)	15-90 Days
Real assets(4)	773		(2)	N/A	671		(2)	N/A
Other	1,212		(1)	2-10 Days	1,028		(1)	2-90 Days
Total investments measured at NAV	$	12,653			$	10,427

(1)Weekly, semi-monthly, monthly

(2)Semi-annually and annually

(3)Various. Includes funds with weekly, semi-monthly, monthly, quarterly and custom redemption frequencies as well as funds with a redemption window following the anniversary of the initial investment.

(4)Unfunded commitments were $1.0 billion for commingled funds, private equity and private equity-related instruments, $259 million for fixed income and fixed income-related instruments and $386 million for real assets at December 31, 2021.

Hedge Funds and Hedge Fund-Related Strategies. These investments are primarily made through shares of limited partnerships or similar structures for which a liquid secondary market does not exist.

Commingled Funds, Private Equity and Private Equity-Related Instruments. These investments include commingled funds invested in common stock, as well as private equity and private equity-related instruments. Commingled funds are valued based on quoted market prices of the underlying assets owned by the fund. Private equity and private equity-related strategies are typically valued quarterly by the fund managers using valuation models where one or more of the significant inputs into the model cannot be observed and which require the development of assumptions.

Fixed Income and Fixed Income-Related Instruments. These investments include commingled funds invested in debt obligations. Commingled funds are valued based on quoted market prices of the underlying assets owned by the fund. Private fixed income strategies are typically valued monthly or quarterly by the fund managers or third-party valuation agents using valuation models where one or more of significant inputs into the model cannot be observed and which require the development of assumptions.

Real Assets. These investments include real estate, energy, timberland, agriculture and infrastructure. The valuation of real assets requires significant judgment due to the absence of quoted market prices as well as the inherent lack of liquidity and the long-term nature of these assets. Real assets are typically valued quarterly by the fund managers using valuation models where one or more of the significant inputs into the model cannot be observed and which require the development of assumptions.

Other. Primarily includes globally-diversified, risk-managed commingled funds consisting mainly of equity, fixed income and commodity exposures.

On an annual basis we assess the potential for adjustments to the fair value of all investments. These investments valued using NAV as a practical expedient are typically valued on a monthly or quarterly basis by third-party administrators, valuation agents or fund managers with an annual audit performed by an independent third party, but certain of these investments have a lag in the availability of data. This primarily applies to private equity, private equity-related strategies and real assets. We solicit valuation updates from the investment fund managers and use their information and corroborating data from public markets to determine any needed fair value adjustments.

Other

We also sponsor defined benefit pension plans for eligible employees in certain foreign countries. These plans did not have a material impact on our Consolidated Financial Statements in any period presented.

Voluntary Programs

During 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we announced the voluntary programs, which primarily applied to eligible U.S. merit, ground and flight attendant and pilot employees. Those employees who elected to participate in the voluntary programs were eligible for separation payments, continued healthcare benefits and certain participants received retiree medical accounts. The election and revocation windows for these programs closed during 2020 with approximately 18,000 employees electing to participate. We recorded $3.4 billion in restructuring charges in our income statement associated with these programs and other employee benefit charges during 2020, including $1.3 billion of special termination benefits (discussed above). The remainder of the restructuring charge primarily relates to separation payments and healthcare benefits. Approximately $720 million was disbursed in cash payments to participants in the voluntary programs during 2020 and approximately $575 million in 2021. An additional approximately $250 million of cash payments were disbursed during 2020 related to unused vacation and other benefits, which were accrued prior to the voluntary programs charge. Accruals related to the voluntary programs are primarily recorded in pension, postretirement and related benefits, other noncurrent liabilities, other accrued liabilities and accrued salaries and related benefits on our balance sheet.

Profit Sharing Program

Our broad-based employee profit sharing program provides that, for each year in which we have an annual pre-tax profit, as defined by the terms of the program, we will pay a specified portion of that profit to employees. In determining the amount of profit sharing, the program defines profit as pre-tax profit adjusted for profit sharing and certain other items.

To recognize the extraordinary efforts of our employees through the pandemic, we will make a special profit-sharing payment to eligible employees in February 2022, based on the adjusted pre-tax profit earned during the second half of 2021.

For the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2019 we recorded profit sharing expense of $108 million and $1.6 billion, respectively. For the year ended December 31, 2020 we recorded no profit sharing expense.