We've received many questions from retirees about the dollar amount of the claims, concerning why those checks were much less than they expected. A number of retirees have also reported that for claims over $2,000, they wanted to receive cash, but were paid in Delta stock instead. Below are some answers to some of the frequently asked questions.

Q: I have a Class 6 (retiree convenience class of claims $2000 or less) claim of about $1500. I thought I would be getting a payment of something close to that amount, but the payment from Delta was only about $700. Why?

A: For small claims, under $2000, that seems to be the result of several factors. On page 125 of Delta's Disclosure Statement, Delta's financial advisors had estimated (based on various assumptions that might or might not come about) that the range of recovery on creditor claims might be between 62 and 80 cents on the dollar. Delta's Plan of Reorganization provided that Class 6 convenience class claims (claims of retirees that were for $2000 or less) would be paid in cash at the mid-range of that estimate, which meant 71 cents on the dollar for the final allowed amount of the claim.

In addition, the original dollar amount of almost all of the retiree claims was an estimate, not a final calculation of the amount of the claim. A substantial portion of many retirees' claim amounts was the calculation of a certain dollar amount per month between January 1, 2007 and the effective date of confirmation of Delta's plan of reorganization. The dollar amount of the claim Delta sent to retirees was an estimate, based on the assumption that the effective date of confirmation would occur in June, 2007. In fact, Delta says the effective date of confirmation was in April, 2007, which reduced the amount of many claims by as much as one-third. Finally, Delta withheld taxes and Social Security payments from the distributions to retirees.

Q: I have a Class 5 claim for over $2000, so I had the choice to elect either to be paid in stock or the cash Delta got for selling the stock. I chose cash, but the dollar amount paid to me seems to be less than 40 cents on the dollar, not about 70 cents on the dollar.

A: Unfortunately, the prediction by Delta's financial advisors that the Delta stock paid to creditors would be worth between 62 and 80 cents on the dollar of their claim amounts was not accurate. As stated in the Disclosure Statement, this prediction for Delta's post-bankruptcy share price was based, in part, on a possible merger with US Airways, which did not occur. Delta now says that for a $10,000 claim, creditors received 225 shares of stock. Finally, we want to emphasize that the claims were always referred to as estimated claims.

Based on a trading range of about $20 a share, that means creditors would receive only about 45 cents on the dollar, and from that amount, for retirees Delta is withholding taxes and Social Security payments.

Q: I wanted to be paid in cash, but I got paid in stock. Why? And what do I do now?

A: We are following up with Delta about this. If you did not affirmatively elect to be paid in cash, Delta paid stock for claims that had a face amount of over $2000. Delta has also told us that some retirees elected to be paid in cash but did not get their election forms to Delta by the deadline, and so were paid in stock instead. If you were paid in stock, you can sell your stock by directing your broker-Fidelity-to sell the shares.

Click Here for the link to the information for Fidelity.