Originally Posted by
BATOL
Let's say for the sake of argument that you had chosen one university over another due to the fact that that university had an agreement with a regional airline that after instructing there for two years you would go straight to the regional affiliate without an interview. For this "in" you paid significantly more than you would have to attend a different university, and accepted below average pay for your instructing. Now low and behold it's 2016 and regionals are falling all over themselves to hire any qualified pilot with a pulse and it turns out you have your pick of regionals that want YOU. Plus that one regional with the affiliation has since closed the base you wanted and is now the lowest paid regional in the industry.
So of what value was that "flow"? What kind of return on investment did you get from the extra expense and lost income by taking that agreement?
That level of demand is coming to the major level, and certainly to the LCC's. Flows lose value with every retirement. Calm down, study, do a prep, and you won't need a flow!
This is a good analogy, but you are missing something. In your analogy, the flow only benefits the person that is actually flowing. This is shortsighted.
There are other good parts of the flow that you are missing. The flow guarantees that there is steady movement in the company. You will always more up the list a certain amount each month. Even if outside attrition is high, the overall amount that you move up is more than it would be with attrition alone.
That movement means less time on reserve, less time until upgrading, and less time on reserve again as a Captain.
It also guarantees you a mainline job if things do not go well in the future for you. Lets say that you bust a checkride, or that you screw up an interview. You still have a mainline job waiting for you.