Originally Posted by flapshalfspeed

If I were in your seat, at your employer, with your career goals/expectations/outlook, I would certainly be concerned with cabotage/NAI/Emirates/Ethiad/pre-clearance facilities in Abu Dhabi.

However, as a single white male still riding right seat in an RJ after a decade in this game (due to no "fault" of my own), and after subsidizing the record profits of Delta and now AA/United by showing up to work as an RJ FO for my payrate all this time--well, I'm going to need more convincing that my interests are aligned with US legacies, instead of the foreign companies threatening your routes (but offering to interview/hire me/pay me a decent wage constantly, unlike your employer or any other US legacy at this time).

I'm all for solidarity with legacy pilots--but solidarity is a two-way street. If United starts hiring RJ drivers in significant quantities, or if ALPA national comes out with a firm stance that they'll never allow >age 65 to happen, or if your employer starts offering seniority numbers/guaranteed interviews to pilots at my company...maybe then I'll feel like my interests are starting to align with United's/Delta's re: NAI.

Until then, why would I donate money to ALPA PAC to protect legacy pilots from foreign competition, when legacy pilots (esp. at Delta) are making record bonuses and scoring solid pay/QOL improvements, due in part to my cheap labor subsidizing their cost structures?

Regional pilots directly subsidize the profits of legacies and the wages of legacy pilots, by providing lots of safe, cheap lift to fill up your 767/777--until there is some real movement from the regionals to the legacies, or some moves by legacy managements to address the absurd pay gap between us for doing the same exact job, I won't donate to ALPA-PAC--I'll be spending that money on interview prep/JAA books to study for interviews in the UAE--where I have an actual chance of making your wages and touching the left seat of a widebody in the next 30 years.