Originally Posted by
WildBlue025
If you think having 121 PIC time doesn't at least give you a leg up then i truly hope you end up on a legacy hiring board for all our sakes. Is it less important than years past? Absolutely. But doesn't mean its not valuable resume fodder. Also idk about OP's financial status but the extra 30k per year that comes with the upgrade goes a hell of a long way towards QOL. At least for me it would. Not that i'm advising anyone to just chase the upgrade. But to say its not a factor at all would be poor advice.
Agreed that PIC makes a pilot more competitive. But PIC is becoming less important as time goes on. I think it will be much less important in a year or 2 than it is now. No one will deny that the game is changing daily and that the changes are in the pilots favor.
I also agree that flow isn't all that important. By the time your number comes up in a flow, most pilots could have been hired on their own at other airlines. Remember the Big 3 aren't the only games in town. FedEx, UPS, Alaska, Southwest, and all the LLCs, etc. Flow is a management tool to make you get in line and be metered to their major at managements chosen pace. It's a marketing tool to get pilots to their airline. I'm not saying it's not nice to have in your back pocket in case other options don't work out. I'm just saying it's not that important with the retirement numbers coming up. All airlines are going to be hiring at unprecedented numbers.