All things equal I would rather have the possibility of flow through over no possibility of flow through. However, it is a carrot as sgrd0q says.
Flow through is a way to recruit and retain pilots. Would I go to a carrier with a flow through vs. one with out... maybe. Would I stay at the carrier if a better opportunity was to present itself... highly unlikely.
If I read the Compass flow up/down correctly, which I would imagine the Mesaba agreement would closely match, when you flow back you loose your mainline hire date and start over with the regional hire date. Anyone have any insight on this? (I believe that the details were posted on the Compass website. But, I can't quite remember.) If this is the case I, personally, would never flow back. I'd go do about anything else during a furlough; make better money, let the wife work for a while, raise my kids and keep my hire date.
Last edited by Radar; 06-14-2007 at 08:08 AM.