Please recognize flow as the MANAGEMENT marketing tool that it is. Flow gives management the power to get you into the right seat of THEIR RJ (they are competing desperately for qualified pilots), and keep you there as long as they can. THAT is their goal, to keep pilots flying in the cheap seats, for as long as possible. They know this regional game is coming to an end so they are throwing the flow carrots out there in a desperate attempt to recruit.

Please realize that for the most part, flow will only slow your career down. Management will decide the order and the speed of you flowing to the mainline. In most cases, that will take years.

Don’t give management control over your career. They will keep you in the cheap seats as long as they can. In the near future, you will be able to prep for the interview and get to a major on your own much more quickly than any flow is going to get you there. Do not give anything up for flow. It will no longer be needed.

If the regional of your choice happens to offer a flow, that’s great. It’s a good back-up plan if all else fails. But don’t let that be a deciding factor.

Some will say – But the majors have 10,000 applications on file. Yep. That’s true. But most of those 10,000 applications are on file at American, Delta, United, Southwest, FedEx, UPS . . . The SAME 10,000 apps are in everywhere. Once the flood gates open, it won’t take long for them to get through those applications. Just my opinion. But, hey, what do I know.