AVIATE (multiple carriers), DGI (Endeavor), a host of others Part 135 & 121 have a program yo mainline!

Before I go back into my cave, a little perspective for you. TSA had a flow-thru to Spirit Airline and I believe a Frontier agreement as well. Where are they now? Compass originally had a flow-thru ( Northwest Airlines/Delta). Where are they now?

If AAL mainline is the creamer’s goal, sure PSA, or Piedmont would be the place to be after research. They’ve had the fastest /still have the faster flow-thru for anyone hired prior to 2015... Just saying Flow-Thru is not special, certainly not unique, no matter what recruiters/marketing department say.

 

Focus. Everyone is one day older today. One day closer to age 65. One day closer to that big retirement bubble.

 

One day closer to my own retirement...

 

I think most are happy to have flow but most also hate the way Envoy uses unrealistic numbers for recruitment purposes.

If you were told you’d flow in 5 years and believed it, made it your reason for being here. Would you not be a little miffed when you got on property and realized that a 5 year flow is almost impossible for you?

It’s also a bit annoying how pilots here basically zero in on flow as the only way out of here. When I talk to people that work for other regionals and they have multiple references at multiple airlines because people are trying to get out where ever they can. Here, everyone has tunnel vision for AA so most of your networking is going to be with people that go to AA. And AA doesn’t hire a lot of regional pilots outside of flow.

 

Well, the gripes are against Envoy in general, but the flow gets special attention because it causes a lot of other problems. It is the primary sales pitch for recruiting, which keeps the Voy staffed regardless of its other shortcomings. It should be a backup plan, but the reality of things is that life at Envoy practically makes people locked into flow. Envoy is one of the slowest career builders in terms of building hours, upgrading, getting other boxes checked (LCA, CP, etc), then moving on to some major. Despite THKool-Aid's assurances that Envoy cadets are the best of the best, Envoy pilots are not hired at other majors at any higher rate than our regional counterparts. This causes a Catch-22 in that short flow times require high attrition as I spelled out above, but high attrition is not a reality at Envoy.

My primary reason for posting is to highlight realities of the flow for lurking cadets, and maybe wake up some of the current pilots at Envoy to stand strong for pay and QOL improvements. Unlike most other regional pilots, we are owned and managed by our mainline, but treated like second-class (or worse) citizens by them. Some new hire or cadet who drinks the Kool-Aid that they are "Already American" needs to face the reality that when they get on the AA seniority list, they will be behind over 6,000 pilots who are not "Already American" today.

The other popular misconception that needs highlighted is people coming here thinking that it improves their chances at getting hired by AA through the traditional hiring process. The non-flow hires are minimal, but that information surprises most of the people at the 'Voy.

 

AA hiring someone from a WO outside the flow very much goes against what the flow really is. The flow is a way to keep the WOs staffed. AAG and the WOs can better control the attrition at those WOs.

What better way to hurt a competitor in a tight labor market than to hire away THEIR feeder LCAs and captains.

 

It’s going to go well above that.

 

Not so fast my friend. It won't go that way at AA because of the flow through. Yeah, they might want 10k hours over at crappy old Omni, but coming through the cadet ranks at Envoy and flying the 175 puts you light years ahead of that old school stuff you are talking about.

 

Excellent observations and kudos for a great and positive post! You are absolutely right, when the flow starts back up it does have great significance and thus the reason that all the cadet universities gravitate toward Envoy.

 

You're such an idiot. I'm going to come back to this when AA starts hiring and prove you wrong. It will be worth it just to watch you try and back pedal on what you said.