Originally Posted by
BIueSideUp
You’re so right. We should be groveling in gratitude for this precious flow. If you want to call it an “insurance plan”, it’s about as useful as hurricane insurance in North Dakota. For anyone new to this game, that’s all the weight you should give it. 9 - 10 years flow is positively useless. Nobody has any idea what the industry will look like by then, and even then so, flow will likely not exist. Don’t even start with the “but it’s contractual” junk. We all know that ANYTHING can change. I can’t believe you all believe that this is such a wonderful bargaining chip that you’re holding like it’s the golden ticket or something. It won’t be long before this comes back to bite. Anyone reading this trying to make a decision - do what’s best for your quality of life and will achieve your goals. Envoy will do neither. If your goal is flight time, reserve isn’t the place for you. If you wanted flow, well sorry to bust your bubble but that’s not such a hot item anymore.
By the way, don’t look now but your mgmt tag is hanging out. Saw it from across the room.
I think you’re forgetting one major advantage the flow provides Envoy pilots over other regionals...
Flow is the best attrition generator that any pilot could ever hope for. The best type of attrition is that happening at the very top. That is because everyone below the people leaving benefits.
This fact is, of course, the reason why every pilot’s spoken (or unspoken...if you have manners) first thought about hearing some career ending event happen to another pilot is not, “How is his family” or “Is he going to be okay?”, but rather “What is his seniority number?” Everyone wants to know if they are going to move up in seniority based QOL! It’s a natural reaction.
Anyways, flow at Envoy currently provides every pilot on property a fairly consistent 25 numbers of increased seniority status while on property. Even people not planning to flow gained 263 seniority spots without even factoring in outside attrition...which was a large gain for the very junior (an additional 100-150 seniority numbers), and a minimal extra gain for the senior.
I think people forget that many other regional pilots can only rely on random attrition from all over the seniority list. Envoy pilots look forward to steady, positive gains in seniority their entire time on the list...even if they elect not to flow. In my opinion, that is a serious benefit of flow even if you think the time to flow is unacceptable for your career goals.
I know that I have personally benefitted from 263 people leaving the top of the list this year. My bidding position in my status has improved dramatically, OT pickup for good turns is getting easier, etc. Those are tangible benefits that work for my family.
Now, if we can get pay increases and/or some positive workrule changes to pair with that...I’m all in!!