But the airlines have everything stacked in their favor and they know it. The guys working for regional airlines are typically the ones that can't go a few months without pay, most pilots in general lean far to the right, either from the military or their upbringing, and they are usually "against" unions, then you have the union itself, which is basically at odds with itself, trying to impossibly satisfy the needs of major pilots at the same time as regional pilots. Then there's the RLA, the public perception of pilots earning 200K/yr, the fact that they HAVE to make their flight across the country to go lay in the sun, and so on. You might even add into the mix that pilots go through a lot of training and have very good skills, but part of the allure is massive amounts of time off, once again tarnishing the public perception. It's an uphill battle all the way, and unless you actually walk, whether in force or individually to find better paths, there isn't much that can change IMO. Too much is stacked in favor of the other sides.