Originally Posted by BeatNavy

Just to clarify, Endeavor doesn't have a flow. They are wholly owned by DAL, but with no flow. Envoy, piedmont, and PSA are wholly owned by AA and all have flow agreements with AA. I've heard there is an unwritten rule that legacies don't want to cannibalize their own regional feed. Not sure if it's true, but I've heard at some or all of the AA wholly owneds you can't apply or get hired by AA outside of the flows. I'm sure someone will be along to clarify that and I'm sure it's in the threads for those airlines. But, as a fighter dude, I wouldn't worry about it too much. You'll have your pick of legacy most likely in short order.

FWIW, anecdotally, I've heard of many people being stuck at regionals for a long time (flying delta connection, united express, and American eagle branded flights), never getting a call from a legacy, then going to Spirit/frontier/JetBlue, and then shortly thereafter they get a call. Was it because the legacies didn't want to poach their own feed or because the airbus type rating/bigger-than-regional experience popped up? Or a coincidence (many times over)? Hiring from competitors costs the competitor money (they have to hire and train someone new). Hiring from a regional flying their feed costs them the acquisition and training event (at the regional level).

The bonuses (signing and retention) vary from carrier to carrier and seem to change monthly as the shortage grows. Some pay when you start, some pay when you finish training, some pay at the year mark, some pay at each year mark, some pay a combination of those (or I'm sure some other ways that I didn't mention). For you I'd say it doesn't really matter much though. With a fighter background, you're most likely going to spend less than 12 months at a regional. You have a retirement and medical. If I were you I would focus on working wherever you won't have to commute from. You'll get hired by every regional you apply to in this environment, and likely by most big airlines, especially with a little recency.

BL: I wouldn't worry about hurting your chances with a legacy based on what regional you choose (if you even have to go there). F-teen pilots get snatched up quickly.