APA’s structure, governance and bylaws are what hampers its ability to secure ILCs. Period, dot, end of sentence. It has nothing to do with AA pilots running it, or former US, or former AW, or whoever. You could have an army of the smartest pilots in charge of fixing it but they will fall flat on their faces - and they have over the years I’ve been here - simply due to the almost autonomous and absolute power the BOD has over everybody else in the union, including the NOs. At the end of the day, we live and die by the BOD’s actions. The ONLY time APA has made gains is when the membership itself has revolted or acted on its own against its leadership. (Braniff Christmas, Sept to Remember, etc.)
When a union only makes gains when its membership revolts, you’ve got a deeply flawed union.
There is indeed one way to fix APA. Schitt can it and replace it with ALPA.
Until that happens, we will trail the industry. It’s really that simple. The ILCs happening everywhere today except APA is proof.
AA pilots have been ham strung by APA for DECADES. It’s like being in a bad marriage with no way out. If you want to fault AA pilots, fault them for not going back to ALPA a lot sooner. Unfortunately, AA pilots have been “institutionalized” by APA’s actions over the decades and part of that has become ingrained in their DNA. That’ll take a while to purge, but it is possible - through a fresh start with ALPA.

I’ll end my rant with one more example of the BOD’s antics and why this union is so broken. Last spring, the ALPA exploratory committee actually RECOMMENDED to the BOD that, in their view, the next step in exploring an ALPA merger needed to proceed, based on their extensive research. In other words, the very committee that the BOD appointed to explore a merger with ALPA recommended we take the next step. And the BOD shot down ITS OWN COMMITTEE’S RECOMMENDATIONS immediately as the panic set in that their days might be numbered. Now, what does that tell you as to the question if APA can be fixed?