Amen brother! I would give my left nut to be at the bottom of a list building seniority at a "career" airline (if such a thing exists) rather than sitting here at a regional, doing the same job for 1/2 what those guys are making flying what are really mainline routes (Houston to Toronto or Cleveland to Miami anyone?) just so i can have the opportunity to start all over again in a few years if and when a spot in the promised land opens up.

I'd say yes (already have my bid in as yes for the flow) but how do you merge Mesaba, Compass, and Comair to then staple everyone?

Couldn't a Mesaaba CRJ900 Captain (500 hrs in aircraft) end up as a CRJ900 FO flying with a CRJ900 Capt (25 hours in aircraft) who used to be a mainline DC9 FO ?

Yes..........................in theory

Last one hired = first one furloghed. Under the current circumstances (majors cutting back flying) the last place I'd want to be right now is at the bottom of the list at a major. Now if things were more "stabilized" (as if they ever have been :rolleyes:) and there was actually a decent amount of movement/growth at a major, then yea, I'd go in a heartbeat. I don't particularly want to sit at a regional all my life.

Right now it's just a matter of finding a chair when the music stops...

As far as I understand it... the flowback to Mesaba (if it occurred) would not displace any current pilot. The flowbacks would occupy the slots that were vacated by the Xj guys who actually flowed up. When they flowed, their position and seniority number remained as FLOW. So no... an NWA flowback would not displace a CRJ900 Captain to FO and end up swinging gear for a flowback.

With the flowthrough/back you are subject to losing your spot at a regional either way in theory(not mesaba yet because of the new agreement) so wouldnt gaining seniority at the major in the meantime be better? For the Compass guys at least if you are on the mainline ticket you are gaining long term seniority and in the event of furloughs at NWA your seats are subject to flowback anyway so at least this way you would be coming back to mainline instead of a regional. The biggest problem with the regionals it keeps ALL of us from getting on at the majors sooner to where we can start building seniority and longevity sooner. Look at the avg age of the Majors back in their hay day compared to now.

Happened at XJT when CAL flowed back after 9/11...

Yup, except that more than likely that DC-9 FO with your theoretical 25 hours in type actually has several thousand hours PIC in the CRJ/ERJ since they were almost all regional captains 6 months ago or so.

Thats very true. Also why is there any confusion on how a flow agreement works?