You will never get an apology from the likes of al446. They are a very special breed of living beings and they will never understand the likes of us daft pilots.
I have had experience of unions from BALPA to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and have seen some amazing displays of intransigence.
We all like to think that we have this great fellowship of the skies until the unions take over.
I will give you one great example of this.
I did an annual line-check on a crew from JFK - SJU. My next duty was to deadhead from SJU - MIA to pick up a DC-10 that had been on heavy maintenance.
We take a 90 minute delay from JFK due to a rather large Cb.
The result is that I miss the company schedule from SJU to MIA but, no matter, Eastern go to MIA at least once an hour.
I present myself at the Eastern check-in desk with my ID and ask if I can possibly deadhead to MIA on the jumpseat. "Go talk to the captain" says she so I present myself in the cockpit and ask if I might deadhead with them (it was an A300 by the way).
The captain asked me if I was a member of ALPA? "Sorry, said I, we have our own in-company union and my Teamsters membership has just run out". "I am really sorry said he, but we have a rule that says you cannot ride an Eastern jump seat unless you are in ALPA".
I thanked him and went back to the check-in desk. The young lady suggested that I might like to try another Eastern flight (L1011) just two gates away. Same deal, got on cockpit and was asked if I was an ALPA member. This time, to my dismay, the captain said "
off"!
Now that was rude and uncalled for.
Six days later Eastern went down the tubes and I had absolutely no problem turning down their applications for a job.
Why are we so horrible to one another?