Moreover, they're about the *first* airline to honor a flowup without legal action forcing it, the previous examples at Eagle/AA and ExpressJet/CO were very messy. DAL honored the flow agreement that NW signed, and continued to honor it for those on property when they sold CP & XJ. Whatever my feelings on Delta's handling of DCI, their sticking to their word on flow agreements made a strong impression on me.

Unfortunately, the fact that there are so many flows at the moment means there aren't a ton of slots for off the street hires - thus, the astronaut selection process. I think that'll change later in the year as there will be quite a few months with no flows and a ton of off the street hiring, certainly a whole lot more than they were talking a few months ago.