v2.4.0.8
Pension and Other Postretirement Benefit Plans
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2014
Compensation And Retirement Disclosure [Abstract]  
Pension and Other Postretirement Benefit Plans

5. Pension and Other Postretirement Benefit Plans

We sponsor the Sabre Inc. Legacy Pension Plan (“LPP”), which is a tax-qualified defined benefit pension plan for employees meeting certain eligibility requirements. The LPP was amended to freeze pension benefit accruals as of December 31, 2005, so that no additional pension benefits are accrued after that date. We also sponsor a defined benefit pension plan for certain employees in Canada.

We provide retiree life insurance benefits to certain employees who retired prior to January 1, 2001, and we subsidize a portion of the cost of retiree medical benefits for certain retirees and eligible employees hired prior to October 1, 2000. In February 2009, we amended our retiree medical plan to reduce the subsidies received by participants by 20% per year over five years, with no further subsidies beginning January 1, 2014. This amendment resulted in $57 million of prior service credit recorded in other comprehensive income that was amortized to operating expense over the remaining term which concluded in December 2013. The following table provides the components of net periodic benefit costs associated with our pension and other postretirement benefit plans for the three months ended March 31, 2014 and 2013 (in thousands):

 

     Three Months Ended March 31,  

Pension Benefits

           2014                     2013          

Interest cost

   $ 4,900      $ 4,500   

Expected return on plan assets

     (6,025     (5,950

Amortization of prior service credit

     (358     (358

Amortization of actuarial loss

     1,200        1,840   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net periodic (credit) cost

   $ (283   $ 32   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

     Three Months Ended March 31,  

Other Benefits

           2014                     2013          

Interest cost

   $         2      $ 10   

Amortization of prior service credit

     —          (3,087

Amortization of actuarial gain

     (33     (481
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net periodic credit

   $ (31   $ (3,558
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

We made no contributions during the three months ended March 31, 2014 and 2013 to fund the LPP. Annual contributions to our defined benefit pension plans in the United States and Canada are based on several factors that may vary from year to year. Thus, past contributions are not always indicative of future contributions. Based on current assumptions, we expect to make $11 million in contributions to our defined benefit pension plans in 2014.