A320

How much exactly does ALPA spend lobbying Washington? I don't know the number but here is what other prominent groups have spent.

2020

NRA $2.2 Mil
Planned Parenthood $ 45 Mil

2021


Big Tech $70Mil

2021 Q1 Big Pharma $92Mil


I'm curious what IATA, the Regional Airline Association, Boeing, and Airbus have spent. Are we even on the radar as far as Congress is concerned?

list

This may have been brought up before but I missed it. A huge limiting factor on airlines running smoothly is ATC staffing, why aren’t their retirement ages raised? Shoot, they also have a min age to be accepted in the program.

rickair7777

Because civil service politics and .gov pensions. If they "can" retire later, then they'll end up "having" to work longer for full pension and they know it.

They also have a max age to be accepted, because they don't want a "B" scale of controllers who cannot mathematically qualify for the pension before the max age.

Cognitive ability isn't that big of a deal anymore (same as for pilots). Most of those guys are video gamers these days, even over age 50... that goes a long way towards staying sharp in their specific cognitive niche. My buddies say they could all easily go to 60, probably even 65. Worst case, after age 60 they take you off the busy TRACONS and assign you to KZCA or the tower at KCID.

A320

Grumble doesn't want to hear any "Nam" stories about 9/11, Chapter 11, the threat of the 1113 process, parking 120 planes ,loss of pensions, loss of ESOP stock value, Bond Allocation malfeasance, loss of all work rules, parking additional 100 planes to facilitate a merger, Double Furloughs, massive displacements, getting short sticked in an SLI arbitration, etc. etc. as he doesn't GAF. Grumble thinks you voluntarily gave away your pension and he probably thinks you voted to give away the RJ flying. He is a hypocrite as he will stay to the bitter end just like everyone else who says they won't if it changes. It happened when they changed it to 65 and it'll happen again. I do take comfort in that the Yutes today have Captain Vacancies just waiting for them right out of the birth canal practically. Along with all the crap that happened in the lost decade, how long was it before you could hold NB Captain anywhere? I bet it was more than a year. A 2000 UAL hire took what 16 years to make Captain? Again Grumble doesn't GAF.

That's ok though because Congress may or may not change the age regardless if we write to them or Santa Clause as we have virtually zero lobbying clout compared to other parties.

for the record I'm opposed to raising the age but then again I've been conditioned to not getting everything I want.

rickair7777

NRA only spent $2M? That seems awfully low, but I guess it depends on how they account for it. I know a couple ranchers in MT who could easily write a $2M check to the NRA, and might be inclined to do so.

I would assume we are on the radar, and I assume ALPA spends more than $2M??? In addition to $, we do have at least *some* political clout, as a prime example of successful organized labor.

A320

the clout I hope we have, the clout I think we have, and the clout we actually have are probably 3 different things.

rickair7777

I don't think we have much political clout, but barely enough that the Dems can't come out openly and say they don't GAF about old rich white pilots.

Case in point: WH issued a statement supporting ALPA's opposition to 67. But Biden's not going to actually veto the re-authorization that HIS senate sends to his desk, just because of age 67. Despite what some very naive pilots seem to think.

Moonbeam

Does anybody really think there is an actual pilot shortage anymore? Is hiring still going crazy with airlines unable to fill classes? Seems like the boom is already over. Which usually means they will change the age, followed by furloughs. Same old boom bust cycle.

rickair7777

I think the peak retirements are 2022-2028, but the wave will continue into the next decade.

A bunch of student starts came out of the woodwork before and after covid, but I suspect that most everybody age 25-45 who's so inclined is already in the system or will be soon.

Once those folks shake out of the tree, they're going to be waiting for kids to grow up to finish school and that can't be surged. They can however use various tools to encourage, incentivize, and recruit
... that will get them some additional bodies. Especually if the pay for primary training.

But I suspect they still might be in for challenges. Not the legacies necessarily, except for their regional feed, but other sectors of aviation who are losing people left and right.

Youth tend not to be attracted to aviation for it's own sake in this era... some of them will come around after a few years of soul-crushing white-collar grind, but you have to wait for them to learn the hard way. Plus many of them *really* like to smoke...

Grumble

Gun to your head? Was that before or after they “found” $5b and Tilton walked away with $40+ million?

Wah. First pilot group in history to have bad things happen apparently. I must’ve missed when the Braniff, Pan Am, EAL, etc guys tried to saddle the younger generations (you) with their career issues.

If a windfall of five extra yeas hasn’t solved your retirement woes, two more won’t.