Well, for me so far, ALPA has served as the most expensive magazine subscription I've ever subscribed to. I still can't get over the fact that they dedicated so much time/resources to the Age 65 rule, found out that a large majority of pilots polled opposed any sort of Age 65 legislation, then watched in disbelief as Age 65 very silently became reality over night...to add insult to injury, the head of ALPA says he encouraged the President to sign it. Age 65 was probably going to happen regardless, but it would have been nice to see ALPA fight it. Instead, they just sort of went along w/ it and ignored everything they had learned from their polling. At least this is my take on the whole thing, perhaps I'm off base though.

With regards to my personal experience here @ Mesa, my view of ALPA is not a positive one. During our last round of contract talks, in 2003 I believe, Mesa tried to divide the pilot group by creating an alter-ego airline known as Freedom Airlines staffed my non-union pilots. ALPA strongly discouraged its members from flying for Freedom; some pilots did jump ship to fly for Freedom (This is the old Freedom, not the Freedom out east). The vast majority of pilots held out and obeyed ALPA's commands in hopes of getting a good contract. The airline threatened to spin Freedom off and make it its own airline, the negotiators got nervous and agreed to a sub par contract to prevent the spin-off. The rest is history. The ironic thing is that a number of the pilots who went to fly for Freedom, A listers they were called and were the scourge of the industry for a while, are now getting hired on @ ALPA represented mainline carriers. What a joke.

Before I chuck my ALPA magazine in the trash, I always look @ the pictures of the guys in the back of the magazine, hoping to see some young blood. Anyhow, the faces rarely change and they are usually old, so those are the folks who are really served by the union: the older, senior guys. This is why, after further reflection, the Age 65 thing really should not come as a surprise. ALPA is all about themselves, not the average line pilot. With that in mind, it becomes easier and easier to chuck that magazine into the trash. I've said it before, I never trusted management, now I don't trust ALPA.