As a CX Yank, I'd say you'd have to be nuts to join at this point. Six to ten years ago, when no one else was hiring, it was a pretty good deal. If you look at current wages on comparable aircraft at the U.S. legacy carriers, we're about 15% underpaid. Not to mention that on a base, it's probably the least satisfying aviation job there is, if you actually enjoy flying. The time off and "golden handcuffs" are about all that keep me here now.

On the flip side, if you're under 24 years old and have little to no flying experience, it might be an option. If you want a "free" education and have an interest in seeing the world at a young age, I think it could be fun. You could always return home after six years with widebody international experience. Although I'm not really sure how many U.S. legacies are hiring without the coveted 1000 PIC turbojet. In other countries, (read UK and AUS) I don't think that's so much of an issue.