Buyouts typically are for people who have severance agreements (Directors - 6 months, VP's - 12 months) that guarantee the amount. Most all come with noncompete for the terms of the contract.
Buyouts for noncontractual severance usually falls to the people with long-term employment tenure plus the severance policy. For example, if the published severance for Sabre is two-weeks for every year employed with a 12-month maximum. This means that a 26-year employee - along with legacy perks and bridge to retirement, health and life insurance, affected stock options, etc. could be negotiated buyout. This will impact mostly older workers over 50 and could be trouble for Sabre. Dumping older employees will also reduce their benefit payout.
Lay-off: If you are not under severance/compensation contract, Sabre can lay you off without reason. It's the law in Texas and severe your employment with only the publicised severance policy: two-weeks for every year. They must offer COBRA and you can apply for unemployment benefits.
The risk for us here is if Sabre sneakily and quietly changes the severance policy. For example, to save even more money, they could change the longtime Sabre severance policy to one week for every year of service to be effective immediately, then execute layoff's right afterwards. One year tenure = one-week severance. This is likely what they will do.
If you are not subject or privy to a compensation contract with Sabre, or are not close to retirement with long-term tenure, I don't believe that holding out for a "package" is better than finding a new job. I don't think it is financially worth the wait. If Sabre culture is not about people or transparency, do the math for yourself. Example: Five-year tenure (full years) = five weeks of severance pay plus remaining accrued PTO pay minus $700+ a month for COBRA. (Dental and portable life insurance more money).
I'll bet Amadeus and many large airlines and hotels in the area are looking for Sabre employees to work on the other side of the aisle as Sabre's customer intelligence, experience, and insight. Same with Hotels. I suspect leaving the two-week to 10-week severance behind to a secure job/benefits with a company that is solid, it a good risk.
These are my opinions.
Posted by @SL4IBzD-2pya , thought it deserved to be on the front page.