Originally Posted by
Future Cpt Kirk
I have recently signed on with a regional airline... I start training very soon. We do not have flow to the majors. I did not consider flow very much when making my decision. It was more so based on being able to drive to work, contract, pay and current upgrade time.
I have two buddies coming up behind me and they are so determined that the quoted 3-5 year flow to American from PDT is the greatest thing ever, they are not considering any other choices. Not that PDT is a bad choice... I've heard good things and did highly consider them (the outstation bases ultimately knocked them off my list). But is this flow really that big a deal?
It is a big deal. The only other flow similar to Envoy's that affects another pilot group was Compass's flow. Now it is ending and I anticipate it having a huge affect on our hiring ability.
Originally Posted by
Future Cpt Kirk
I know that Eagle guys who were promised flow ended up sitting there for a long long time. Is flow more of a solid thing now with hiring picking up?
A flow is a contractual thing and I know the Envoy one has been validated in the courts too.
The Eagle pilots sat for a long time because AA didn't hire for a long time. A new hire today will flow much quicker because their flow time has no bearing on how long the Eagle pilot flowing now took. Your flow time is only based on the numbers. As long as nothing drastic changes, AA will have to hire a ton of pilots in the coming years and Envoy pilots must make up a large percent of them. That is why a new hire at Envoy can realistically see a 5-6 year flow, while a PSA new hire is looking at 20 years to get a guaranteed interview.
Same thing at Compass. Delta took 300 pilots out of 450 pilots since March, 2014 through October 2015. That is a huge percent of the pilot group gone in less than 2 years. Our pilots who flowed at the beginning of last year sat for a longer time than those who leave this year.