Air Line Pilot Magazine June-July 2026

Our Commitment to Returning Value to Our Members

Being a good steward of our members’ dues money is a top priority for the Association. Every action we take is done with our members, our industry, and our safety and security in mind. In each issue of Air Line Pilot, we chronicle our achievements: stronger contracts, protections for workers’ rights, enhancements to safety and security, and more. But we also recognize that our members work hard for the dues dollars they pay—and we’re committed to ensuring that ALPA dues are always the best investment you can make in your career.

In 2024, we made history by offering to return dues to our members for the first time in the Association’s existence. This decision recognized that we could continue to offer world-class resources to our members while allowing them to contribute less of their hard-earned money. The decision was facilitated by the strength of the contracts we negotiated and the fact that we’ll continue to raise the bar on contracts for our pilots with each bargaining cycle. ALPA has been disciplined and responsible stewards of our members’ dues, and we’ve reaped the benefits of the strong contracts and agreements we negotiate.

In 2025, we once again proffered a return of dues dollars. And we’re proud that this year we’re in the position to offer to return dues to our members for a third year. Over the course of the past three years, we’ve been able to simultaneously provide more resources to our pilots while returning money to them.

The Executive Council approved a resolution to offer to return $53 million this year. Since we made the historic decision to proffer to return dues two years ago, we’ll have offered to return more than $150 million to our members. And this is in addition to returns being proffered on the master executive council (MEC) level where a significant portion of our surpluses remain. I want to commend the MECs that are able to make the dues’ return offer.

However, we also recognized that collecting dues just to return them may not be the most efficient way to serve our members. Yet these offers to return dues have identified something important: ALPA has a sufficient surplus of funds to operate, to grow, and to reduce our dues rate.

In May, the Executive Council and Executive Board approved a resolution to reduce our dues rate from 1.85 to 1.55%. This resolution will go to the Board of Directors in October for final approval and would take effect in 2027, if approved.

I want to recognize the Structure, Services, and Finance Review Committee and Capt. Wes Clapper, the Association’s vice president–finance/treasurer, for supporting this initiative, for their hard work on keeping the finances of our union strong, and for identifying how we can continue to give more to our members while taking less. It’s one thing to reduce dues when our union’s finances are robust, but in crafting this resolution we acknowledged that we must also plan for the future. We thought through worst-case scenarios for our union and industry to provide future leaders the necessary tools to protect revenue during a downturn. This change is years in the making, and it reflects exactly the kind of responsibility we owe to our members.

The chief priority of any union must always be to support its members. That’s true on the good days when ALPA is signing new, strong contracts and our airlines are thriving, but it must also be true when our members face headwinds. The recent ratification of a new contract by the FedEx Express pilot group after five years of negotiations is a testament to what perseverance and solidarity can achieve—and to the support the Association offers. And we’ll continue to provide this same support to every ALPA pilot group currently in negotiations or preparing to begin bargaining to ensure that our members achieve contractual gains that recognize their contributions.

At the same time, we continue to stand with our Spirit Airlines pilots as they work to find their footing after the closure of their airline. This includes launching a pressure campaign urging the bondholders in charge of a “wind down” fund to pay the people who kept Spirit flying to the end.

We remain a union committed to returning value to our members. As a volunteer-based organization, we all benefit from what our members contribute—from the work we do to the dues we pay. When the strong contracts we secure lead to dollars earned and hours spent at home, or a grievance with management is settled in our members’ favor, or safety and security advancements we champion save lives—our investments in the work we do come back tenfold.

Our union is strong because, together as one ALPA, we make it strong.

In the June–July Issue: