Your buddy sounds like a guy I knew that would have had a seniority number here of about 1300 if he had stayed. He would be starting his 9th or 10th year of WB Capt pay and vacation if he had stayed, and have had another 16 years left of that if he chose to fly to 65 (which he will most likely have to at AA now). He went back to AA as one of the last recalls there in 97 or so. He could have held WB F/O but chose to stay in MEM as a 727 S/O and F/O and bid crappy night lines and then complained he didn't like nights. He also told me he liked walking around the terminal in his uniform and that made him feel special. I tried to talk him into staying and just hang out at the terminal in his uniform on one of the 6 extra days he would have had off (making about $80k more a year) he would have had here. In the end it was clear he thought Pax pilots were better and since he was senior to me I bid him farewell and stopped wasting my time. FWIW, no one who looked at the situation rationally then thought it was a better deal to leave a WB F/O seat at FedEx with real job security and great pay and bennies to go sit sideways on reserve again at AA at the bottom of the list. I am sure he tells horror stories to himself and others about FedEx to this day to try and make him feel better about making the worst decision of his career by going back..

As far as leaving 20 years at AA to go to the bottom of any list, I agree with the poster above who said that I would do that only of I thought AA was a goner. I think they will survive personally although who knows what happens to the pilot contracts now that they are in Bankruptcy..