These numbers come straight from Section 3 of the Pilot's Working Agreement....i.e. The Contract. That's why the Profit Sharing program looks the way that it does, because it is contractually mandated. It's not given out as a gift, it was one of the few hard fought benefits to come out of the massive pay cuts the Pilot's agreed to in the 2004 Letter of Agreement #46 . Again, there's no generosity about it, it's contractual. The contract lays out the exact formula for the size of Profit sharing, who's eligible, and even when it's to be paid out. As with many other items in the pilot's contract, they are often extended to the other non union groups word for word, and that's the case here.

At the time that it was agreed to, I'm sure it was thought to be a throw away item.....the thought of consistent profits was a long way off. However, ever since, The company has been trying to pull back on the terms. In the 2008 contract, they successfully increased the trigger level for 20% to $2.5B. In the 2012, they lowered the initial tier from 15% of profits to 10%. In contract 2015, they were so convinced that they would be able to lower it again that they preemptively reduced the payout to the nonunion folks and for that year there was actually a difference between the pilots and the rest of the employees. In the end, the Pilots rejected that contract and in the subsequent agreement, there were no changes to Profit sharing and the non union folks were quickly 'snapped back' to the same terms as the pilots. The pilots are currently in negotiations again and you can bet that Profit Sharing is being discussed, though I would expect no changes