For those who would advocate a change to ALPA, one thing to consider is that ALPA has a long negotiating history with United and Delta, but not with American. The Railway Labor Act says the parties shall make and maintain agreements. APA broke away from ALPA in 1963, 57 years ago. There is no negotiating history to fall back on for an ALPA negotiator, ALPA has no idea about the grievance history of APA and ALPA didn't write any of the current contract language.

If this pilot group elects ALPA as it's bargaining agent you will see no changes to the office staff and the way things are done. It will be the same people because ALPA has no idea what goes on in Dallas. It would take several years to any any of the "boys from Herndon" up to speed on how AA operates, manages the contract and who to deal with.

My estimate would be at least 5 years to see any meaningful change. If you want to slow negotiations down to a crawl, go ALPA. They will walk in clueless with no history or background to rely on.