It is also worth noting that the BAe-146 that AWAC operated had a much, much higher payscale than most of the larger ones have today. It was a special operation which was tolerated by the United pilots because it was a small fleet (18 at its maximum), operated in and out of a few places they couldn't easily do (ASE and SBA) without bringing that equipment into their fleet.

IIRC, the top payscale was something around $140/hour before the concessionary contract went into effect. And there were a lot at that figure. It was not some unreachable number as AWAC had always been a company with high longevity.

It was a unique situation and not really comparable to the Mesa and Republic 86-seaters which are operated in far, far larger numbers to destinations US Airways pilots could easily do.