Solidarity Sunday: Sell the Destination, Not the Airplane
Happy New Year. Most of us are thinking and planning for the new year…and just like planning a trip, we think about where we are currently, where we want to go, and what it will be like when we get there. There's a rule in the airline industry that's worth remembering as we think and plan out our year of 2026.
Airlines spend about 90% of their money and resources selling the destination (what life will feel like when they arrive). Only 10% is about the plane (the seat, the airline, the mechanics of how you get there).
Too often, we flip that ratio.
We spend a lot of time talking about training programs, pay scales, health insurance, and benefits. Those things matter for sure, and they are victories worth defending. But they are not the dream. They are the vehicle.
The destination, the real 90%, is opportunity.
It's the opportunity to build a career that is about them: their goals, their talents, and their sense of purpose. It's the chance to earn stability and dignity in a world that too often offers insecurity and stress. It's the power to provide for a family, plan for the future, and sleep at night knowing tomorrow isn't a gamble.
Union membership isn't just about a better job. It's about a better life.
It's about the freedom to say yes to a child's field trip without checking a bank balance. It's about the ability to imagine retirement not as a cliff, but as a chapter. It's about having a voice on the job and in the community, and knowing that voice matters.
When we talk to workers, especially those not yet organized, we should ask ourselves: Are we helping them see themselves at the destination?
Do they hear us describing a future worth building?
Do they hear how union solidarity creates real choices in their lives?
Do they hear how collective power turns uncertainty into security?
The plane still matters. Nobody gets to the destination without it. But no one dreams about a plane.
We can rebalance our message. We can talk less like administrators and more like storytellers. Let's center our conversations on what union membership makes possible…for workers, for families, and for the next generation.
When we sell the destination, when we talk about opportunity, dignity, and a future people can believe in. The plane will take care of itself.
Solidarity isn't just something we explain. It's something we invite people into, by showing them where we can take them.