ALPA members’ dedication and professionalism have helped to build the airlines that participate in international alliances. Now, ALPA pilots have an opportunity to support legislation that directs the Department of Transportation to ensure that new revenue-sharing agreements between U.S. and foreign airlines are beneficial to U.S. airline workers as well as to their airlines.

One such agreement involves United Airlines, which has entered into a joint venture with Aer Lingus to fly a Washington-to-Madrid route starting on March 28, whereby United would provide marketing and a feed of passengers, and would equally split the costs of establishing and maintaining this new route, all without utilizing either United aircraft or United pilots.

Recently, Rep. Tim Bishop (D-N.Y.), Rep. Mike Michaud (D-Maine), and Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.) introduced a bill (H.R.4788) that establishes basic requirements for U.S. airlines that enter into international revenue-sharing agreements. These requirements ensure that the participating airlines conduct an amount of the flying that is in proportion to the amount of revenue the airline receives. A U.S. airline will be able to share revenue with a foreign airline, but that revenue will be based on the amount of flying each airline performs.

“This legislation will help U.S. workers keep their jobs without affecting existing code-share agreements,” said Capt. John Prater, ALPA’s president, when the bill was introduced. “This bill is a win for the American worker and for our economy. We urge Congress to swiftly pass it.”

ALPA members are encouraged to urge their member of Congress to swiftly pass H.R. 4788 through the Association’s new Call to Action. Click here to take action now.

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Nearly 200 United pilots, flight attendants, and other supporters celebrated St. Patrick’s Day by conducting informational picketing at United’s Chicago headquarters to protest the airline’s joint venture with Aer Lingus, slated to begin service later this month. In the new operation, United will receive a significant portion of the revenues but will do none of the flying with its own aircraft or flight crews. In fact, the airlines appear to be planning to use third party, non-union flight attendants in a blatant effort to sidestep the two airlines’ contractual labor agreements.

“We don’t want to see companies continue to outsource good jobs,” said Capt. Wendy Morse, United MEC chair. “It will leave us with a shell of a country that has no wealth.” Morse and others are concerned that if the joint venture is successful, United will eliminate U.S.-based pilot jobs and ultimately farm out more of its operation to foreign carriers with lower pay scales.

Picketing with the United pilots and flight attendants were fellow ALPA pilots from Delta, Continental, Colgan, and Mesa.

(For more information, please click here.)

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The group plans to review an ALPA-drafted standards document, which is intended to be approved by the TSA to create one standard for the implementation and use of CrewPASS. Once a standards document is approved, these three and other vendors can begin offering contracts to the airlines to implement CrewPASS according to that standard.

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ALPA is monitoring this situation closely and is in regular contact with other labor leaders through its affiliation with the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations (IFALPA). We recommend that ALPA members avoid all travel on British Airways until the strikes are concluded. Maintaining this policy should prevent ALPA members from having to directly cross Unite strike lines in front of airports.

We also encourage ALPA members to take all necessary precautions to ensure the safety and security of both their crews and flights, particularly if the Unite strikes escalate to include ground staff who service flights of ALPA-member carriers.

(For more information, please click here.)

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This Fund is a great opportunity for you to help your fellow pilots in their time of need. Please contribute to the ALPA Emergency Relief Fund today! Your tax-deductible contributions to the AERF are vital to providing quick emergency funds when needed. To date, the AERF has assisted 210 ALPA members and their families. Although the Fund currently has a reserve to help those in need, history has proven that when disaster strikes the Fund can be drained very quickly.

For more details and to contribute, please visit the AERF Web page. You may make a contribution via credit card through the AERF web page. To contribute to AERF by check, please make your check payable to the “ALPA Emergency Relief Fund,” and send it to ALPA Emergency Relief Fund, Cashiering Department, P.O. Box 1169, 535 Herndon Parkway, Herndon, VA 20172-1169.

Remember, 100 percent of your donation goes directly to a fellow ALPA pilot who has requested assistance.

*Established in 2005 in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the ALPA Emergency Relief Fund is a U.S. tax-deductible charity.

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Even during difficult times, airline pilots do an outstanding job of fulfilling ALPA’s motto, “Schedule with Safety.” With ALPA’s long-standing emphasis on fostering the highest level of professionalism and adherence to the Code of Ethics—and the Association’s renewed attention to it—Air Line Pilot magazine is looking for “a few good men and women” to profile who serve as superlative examples of professionalism on a daily basis.

If you know of someone who exemplifies the best characteristics of our profession, you are invited to nominate him or her. Those chosen by the selection committee will be interviewed and featured in a future issue of Air Line Pilot magazine.

Please download the submission form, fill it out, forward it to Magazine@alpa.org, and we will take it from there.

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Pilots should have a commercial pilot’s license, airline experience within the last two years, and experience flying 737s, 747s, and/or 777s. Please contact Sara Gee at sgee1@gmu.edu if you are interested or would like more information. This research project is funded by the FAA.

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United Airlines has the distinction of being the only commercial carrier to have operated Executive One, the special designation given to a civilian flight carrying the U.S. president. On Dec. 23, 1973, President Richard Nixon flew from Washington to Los Angeles on a United DC-10. The U.S. was in the midst of a severe energy crisis and President Nixon flew on a regularly scheduled passenger flight as a fuel-saving measure, opting not to use the traditional B-707 transport. The DC-10 flew with an Air Force escort for the five-hour flight.
 

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If you have moved or changed your ISP or e-mail address, please update your ALPA records. If you don’t, you will no longer receive the ALPA FastRead and other e-mail bulletins and notices, and once your postal forwarding order expires, you’ll no longer receive the magazine and other ALPA mail. You can do it yourself by going to https://crewroom.alpa.org and logging in. Go to “My ALPA” on the left side of the page, and from there, you’ll be instructed how to make the necessary changes.

If you don’t have access to https://crewroom.alpa.org, you can e-mail your requests by sending them to membership@alpa.org. Be sure to include your member number or enough other information so that we can identify you in the membership database, and tell us what information needs to be updated.

Please note that it is not sufficient just to notify your LEC or MEC of these changes—you should register them with the ALPA Membership Department in Herndon.

Can’t remember your member number or how to log in? Need information about your ALPA insurance programs? These and other questions about ALPA services can be answered by contacting membership@alpa.org.

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