Simple. APA has a history of fighting for one or two broad general goals... those are, 1) protect total jobs instead of THE job, and b) focus on pay rates and let the rest go by the wayside. These are areas that Delta and United ALPA have figured out long ago.

As a result, APA has never properly fought for hotel language, trip protection/ownership, premium, double dipping when bought off trips, j/s weight protection....etc, etc.

So for trip trading and drops, which is the example above, APA has ALWAYS allowed the company to dictate the terms on trip trades and drops, because APA doesn’t fight for those things the way the others do.. because APA doesn’t deem it as important as protecting those almighty pay rates.

APA is firmly stuck in the 1960s mindset and refuses to adapt. This is why we’ve always played second (third, fourth?) fiddle to everyone else, and will continue to do so under APA.

This is also why the APA model is way past broken and why we need to switch to ALPA...if anything, to start anew with new union governance, policies, and industry standards...which legacy ALPA is very familiar with. It would also “break the APA chains of the past” and keep us way more connected with the UAL and DAL contracts.