I don't even think there are that many left from Mesaba. 9 started 2 weeks ago and after them there are only about 50 left.

The "130ish" looks suspiciously like the number of Compass flows for the year. I believe the number of Mesaba flow eligible pilots is just under 70. It's been mentioned elsewhere either in this thread, or another.

If Delta mixes flows and OTS hires in training classes, it may not take too long for OTS bubbas to start training. If they train all of the flows upfront and/or fill classes heavy with the flows, it will take OTSs longer. Does anyone know what the breakdowns will be? Is there an intent to get through all of the flows and then train the OTSs?

Best advice ever. I guess the bottom line is that we did get hired, and hopefully we all have jobs right now. In the light of keeping one's expectations low, 18 months is not so bad compared to a fruitful 20-30 years career. Considering how many great guys out there are trying to get on, we are so very lucky. We got dealt a really good hand here.

When Compass and Mesaba were both sold in 2010, there were well over 200 Compass pilots eligible to flow up and just over 100 Mesaba guys. I don't know how many have flowed since that time.

My buddy is a mil OTS hire and he started in the first class of 13 Jan. I believe there are 4-5 OTS new hires in his class.

60 flowed in 2010. 300 and some change left (including this years 120-130)

What kind of trips can a new guy expect on the Atl 88 or 717? NY 88/320/73N? Which would get you weekends off or a line the quickest? Thanks in advance!

Thats a tough one as sometimes lines go to the last guy. Not the same as the regionals since RSV can be a great gig depending on category and where you live. That being said percentage wise, last I checked M88 in NYC was the most junior category for me (as in I would be higher percent in category). However it is a fairly small category so there wouldn't be very many people behind you. Also not many trips in open time to swap from on a smaller category like that.

As far as trips on the 88 in ATL, usually it averages around 3.2-3.4 days or so on the bid pack so mostly 3-4 day trips. The sign ins occur at all hours of the day and the legs can number from 1 some days to 5 a day. It is a very large category and therefore it has a wide range of trips. If I had to guess an average I would say 3 legs a day on the 88.

Here are the official flow #'s from the Mesaba side. Going into the 2014 hiring wave there were 68 total XJ pilots with flow thru rights. Of those 68, 10 opted out and aren't flowing, mostly old dudes. Another 7 flow bidders don't have degrees and will get left behind, so much for the "vault letter". Of the pool of 68, 9 flowed on 1/13/2014 and 9 more will flow on Feb 3rd. So after the Feb 3rd class only 33 more XJ pilots will flow up. June will be the last month with XJ flow ups assuming there are monthly classes.