I don't know why everyone is making this complicated. 'Flow' exists because it ensures that AA can keep their regionals staffed with younger pilots who cost half as much as a 'lifer' on year 20 pay, regardless of whether they go to AA or somewhere else. I'm sure the bean counters have run the numbers of retention vs pay vs training costs.

All the stuff about streamlined checklists/procedures, pay and admin, etc is all fluff. I find it hard to believe that an AA WO pilot would need any additional sim time adapting to Delta's checklists. I also don't think an hour of in-processing admin has any effect on whether they should hire OTS vs WO.

At PDT, we get less days off for less block hours, lower pay, and lower QoL in exchange for flow, but the flow is (expensive) insurance that as long as AA is hiring, there's a light at the end of the tunnel, even if it's 10 years away. At Republic or SkyWest, you might get picked up by a major after 3 years, but you also may never get a call or get TBNTs after a few interviews and your career stops there.

AA supposedly has enough cash to make it to next winter at current burn rates before Chapter 11 BK is on the table. If demand is back at even 80% of 2019, then AA will likely be operating at full capacity with their reduced fleet and in a much better position to negotiate interest on debt. I get that If they do go Chapter 11, then flow, pay, contracts, are all off the table.

When I was at CQ we were told by management that they expect it to take a year to bring all the furloughs back, then they expect to begin hiring (and flowing) again early 2022. Anecdotally, the PDT pilot group is very motivated to move on to their next thing. Even without flow, my seniority has grown a decent amount this year. I know that if AA doesn't go BK, I'll be there after 8 years of paying dues, worst case (based on current seniority and no outside attrition), if I don't get hired somewhere else, first.