As someone who was there early on, there's a few things you aren't taking in to consideration. Turning AAPAG in to an independent union was considered. The issue was money, as in: There wouldn't be enough. When you are relying on the pilot group to subsidize everything, and you can't force anyone to join or pay, there isn't a lot of money. Negotiations takes a lot of that, and you can't expect a few people to pay for everything. When not everyone is paying, those that are wonder why they decided to contribute. What do you do when the money runs out becuase you know management there will stonewall until it's gone? You end right back where things are now.

ALPA was considered early on. There were two issues: With all the furloughed ALPA pilots there at the time, it wasn't clear if it would pass, and, more importantly, ALPA wasn't interested at that time. The Teamster's were the only national union that expressed interest. The major problem with the Teamsters, or ALPA for that matter, is the union is only as good as the people that are running it. If the people running it don't care, nothing is going to be accomplished.

However, the biggest issue being faced, and it doesn't matter who the union is, is you have to be negotiating with people that are willing to negotiate. When the company isn't interested in a deal, there's nothing any union can do. You have to go thru the motions until an impasse is declared, and as long as there is ANY progress, no matter how small, that won't happen. The RLA negotiating process is stacked in management's favor, and they know that. They also have no incentive to sign a deal. All the leverage the union had is gone since hiring everywhere has slowed way down.