You don't need to lecture me on the ex-pat lifestyle. I live it. I love it. My wife loves it.

But as an ex-pat, I also know that many don't adjust well. It is especially tough on those with families and for those with wives who find themselves now without a job, and living in a strange country. I know at least as many that hate as love it. Among those with children, the proportion that hate it (or whose spouse hates it) jumps exponentially. And I live in what the wife and I jokingly call a "starter" country, because it is safe, progressive (in some ways), clean, and everyone speaks English. Moreover, many ex-pats are on fixed assignments. There is an end date. There is a home to go back to. Going to work for EK does not do the same thing.

I know that many will take these jobs. I just don't think that, were NW to go under, anywhere close to a majority of the pilots would actually move abroad. And this doesn't even get us to people like the mechanics or flight attendants, many of whom take the same nuclear attitude. The FA's, in particular, will not be getting jobs with EK and the like.