There are pilots out there who are furloughed or out of work from a multitude of various airlines, from the little guys (ASA, Comair, Mesa, etc) all the way up to the big players (TWA, United, UPS, etc).

Some of these pilots have more years of airline experience than the age of future potential Mesaba flow-throughs. They have more Heavy Jet PIC time than the Mesaba guys have total time. They've done things like be check airmen, chief pilots, safety reps, sim instructors, etc.

They'll also result in Delta getting a much more consistent known quality as they have to go through the interview process and have the resume to get them there.

No offense to Mesaba pilots but many (I'd assume the majority) of the flowthroughs will have spent their career putting around in a regional aircraft in the upper mid-west without ever passing a major airline interview process or doing anything other than flying a plane around. And the longer the flow through goes on, the less and less experienced of pilots will be going to Delta, taking jobs that could've gone to other pilots.

It doesn't mean they're bad pilots, it simply means that they're jumping ahead of the line and a lot of very high quality pilots are being skipped over, who if Delta were out to get the best pilots they could, would've gotten interviews and hired first.

The flow was negotiated and its there and everyone rationally accepts that, but a lot of people (such as myself) have a vastly different view on how things "should" be. Your opinion may vary.