cpdude, it's not blackmail. It's extortion. Similar, but different.
There are those in the "AOAUSA" who have fallen for the HKAOA's "you can't do it without us and without paying us 80% of your dues for us to do it for you" BS.
To think that HK-based AOA members will risk ANYthing to help their so-called brothers and sisters in the US is naive when the "AOAUSA" is already throwing a group of its OWN members under the bus.
CX was, is and always will be an every-man-for-himself airline. That was proven with the 49ers. Our game of union playing is no different from the security theatre we see at the airports. It appears benevolent on the surface but is rotten at the core.