I looked at ANA/AJX back in 2007 when I was teed off at AWA with the state of our merger. I had a voluntary furlough set up and I searched for a decent contract job. I could not get past the recruiter at Crew Resources. He could not accept the fact that I was a 757 captain at AWA/US and I wanted to go to AJX, even though the pay was about the same.

I do not know the state of contract flying right now, except through this and other pilot sites. I do know that after the merger with AA and our new contract, substandard as it is, there is very little incentive for me or anyone past 3 years on the seniority list to look overseas. Several PHX pilots flew in China, none plan on going back, even though the money there is comparable or exceeds widebody left seat pay here. 16 % into your 401k is something that does not come close to being matched overseas.