Originally Posted by
scambo1
Clamp;
Are you trying to cozy up to SWA?
Too bad for those swa pilots that we aren't hiring in 2013.
While commuting on the JS awhile ago, The (then) Mesaba Capt put the flow thru into perspective for me. He said he didn't care about the flow, he wanted to be able to interview and get hired on (for lack of a better word) merit.
I thought about that (the way my brain chews on stuff for awhile) and had to agree with his perspective. Interviews are better than flows...Unless (insert the flow up's flaws here).
Anyone that has hung around this thread knows I am not a regional basher - I commute on them in the JS frequently - There is nothing wrong with the interview process unless you have something to hide.
Coex had a flow when I was there and I thought it was awful. But I was junior. Way way way too many pilots from the top down to the middle and even the bottom were content just to hang out and flow.
But in 2000 we were told that could be ten years, so you were better off going elsewhere which meant not flying at Continental because you couldn't cut the line on the flow.
Not to mention, you had to watch people who had been in the industry less time than you go on to CAL ahead of where you'd flow. Say you had two friends hired at Coex and ASA at the same time and both wanted to be CAL pilots in EWR (absurd illustration I know), the Coex dude may have a flow but he might not flow for 10 years. The ASA guy could be hired at CAL in 3. And there is nothing the Coex guy could do about missing the boat other than to leave Coex and reapply.
Of course the other problems with flows, they don't last or they change. I wouldn't base my life upon it.
As a mainline pilot, as long as the pilots are interviewed by Delta and I get the flow down option, I don't care. As a regional pilot, I'd hate the idea and would be against a flow.