ALPA botched that just as badly as they have everything else. For the record, ALPA got about 130 Eagle pilots AA jobs during the first 14 years of that agreement, while the APA got about 400 or so at Eagle. The Eagle pilots started at the bottom of the total list, while the AA furloughees started at the bottom of the captains list. ALPA got a "D-" for their flowthru negotiating abilities. The only thing worse, was their policing of the agreement, where they get an "F". No sour grapes, because that was the agreement........actually, my hats off to the APA for a job well done on that one.

A 16-year contract that the fat guy from national (food stained tie and all) held over his head and proclaimed the best thing since sliced bread and a series of amendment rounds that slowly gave back many of the palatable parts of the CBA was what ALPA "managed to do for me"..........oh, that and a $32,000 magazine subscription and an occasional reminder to pay or face termination when they botched my dues payment.

Believe what you wish. If another group of suckers falls down the same hole as so many of us have who have the bumps and bruises to prove it want to experience it for themselves, I say go for it. You'll never be allowed to strike though as ALPA can't give you that (just like all the other ALPA carriers who've been in negotiations for years and wont be released to self-help). The actual ability to strike is the only thing that gets true results and ALPA has no juice anymore and is simply now a dues collection business attempting to support itself as its primary priority.

The difficult part is making it LOOK like they're actually doing something for you. Thankfully, I'm done with that forever, but I can still watch with amusement from the sidelines as the frustration of others who actually WANT to experience this for themselves when they don't get what they thought they would.