LABOR: Captains Capricious

U.S. airline pilots have a union that actually delivers pie in the sky. The 31,000 members of the Air Line Pilots Association earn an average of $33,250 a year—it goes up to $59,000 for some captains on transatlantic runs—for working 60 to 85 hours a month. No less generous with themselves, ALPA captains collect flight pay of around $40 per hour for time that they spend on association business; last year union officers managed to spend $1,100,000 on "meals, travel and lodging." Their power matches their pay. The union can put out...