I agree; Historically, flowthrough agreements have been a magic carrot to dangle at the regional pilots of several airlines.... the reality was the flowback provisions were more heavily used than the flowthrough... AMR being the prime example, but it's still statistically better for mainline than for regional. In this period of time in the industry, I'm glad I am not at a place with an existing floughthrough (because nobody will be being hired as mainlines shrink or are replaced ah la Midwest by RAH...) or flowback, since as those mainline places shrink, as they furlough the only people going onto the streets will be their regional "partners."

If you want a mainline job, negotiate a "preferential hiring" process with carry over DOH and stuff like that... floughthrough/flowback is a bad deal for most. Sure, many have gone the route and benefited from it, but far far more have lost...

carfefull what you wish for, you may not like the end result.