Originally Posted by
SErickson
This argument may hold water IF the other examples were regarding someone moving to the same job at a different company. A job as a podiatrist is not the same as a job as a neurosurgeon. A kindergarten teaching position is not the same as a college professor. The training, education and experience required for each of these positions is not equivalent.
What makes a pilot flow work is that the job on each of the equation is literally identical and the skills required to be successful in the interview process at either of them are gained prior to obtaining either job.
The difference is the regional's hiring standards and basically take anyone with a pulse (at least in the last decade post 9/11) meant fog a mirror and you were in. Besides, most regional trips were no more than 4 day trips. Compare that to legacy widebody trips and being stuck with a d-bag for 12 days of a stretch. It seems Delta wised up and stopped the flow. You are correct about identical skills required in a regional vs a major job. But the hiring standards aren't the same and nor is the interview process. When the regionals are desperate, they sure will overlook a LOT of things. You know there were quite a few oddballs at 9E that would be a pain to fly with, but with a flow, there's no way to vet them out. An interview process at least gives a chance to weed some of the bad ones out.