Originally Posted by lolwut

I'd say its a lot more than that.

Say 10 guys are in a newhire class at a regional. You're going to have the guy in that class that is the worst most inept pilot. Theres always that one guy that shouldn't be flying anyone, much less as a mainline pilot.

Over time, the other 9 guys move on to other better airlines. This one guy can't get a job anywhere else, he's reached the maximum of his career potential and instead just sits on the regional airline seniority list and continually moves up it over time.

Now imagine this one guy from every class. The top of the seniority list, over time, is going to collect these "1 guy"s. The guys where they've hit the glass ceiling and just don't have what it takes to get on to a mainline carrier. Everyone knows they exist. Thats why the senior part of every regional's list is disproportionately full of idiots. Its because pilots who have the ability and desire and drive to get out of a regional never end up being there longer than everyone else and being that senior.

These are also the guys that fight the hardest for a flow. Because its their one chance. They can't get the job through an interview. And they'd be the first to flow. These are the guys that will be filling the mainline newhire classes and leap frogging the good pilots who deserve to be in them.

They're the reason why regional airline seniority lists are full of idiots, why mainline pilots view regional airline pilot groups as lesser pilots, and why nobody with any sort of skill as a pilot should ever want a flow to exist. And none of this is extreme, its the truth and it exists everywhere.