Originally Posted by
NEDude
What I also fail to understand is why you people have failed to learn from history. Not even a decade ago ALPA joined forces with the airline trade groups, led in large part by Alaska Airlines, in opposition to Virgin America. Today ALPA gladly collects the dues of the Virgin America pilots and Alaska Airlines has just significantly strengthened their position on the west coast by purchasing Virgin America. Had the unions and trade groups been successful in their effort, Alaska would be extremely vulnerable. 30 years ago, had PeoplExpress not existed, would Continental have survived to establish a valuable NYC hub and later merge with United?
Classic counterfactual fail.
The industry would have looked a little different if PE or VA had never come to fruition. But not that much different. Those pilots would have eventually landed jobs at other airlines -- and their absence would have put less downward pressure on pilot wages.