27 is not even remotely old.

PSA is about as good as it gets for a CHS local. If you think you need the flow, it's not a bad move.

The point, not inaccurate, is that someone who flows in the mid 2020’s will come in at the end of a huge hiring wave.

You will be behind that wave until they retire. If you come in age 35, you won’t last til the wave retires. Hence you’ll retire 40th percentile narrowbody Captain after 30 years and your identical twin hired 3 years before will be 40th percentile widebody CA.

Any 5-10 year projection in this industry is wildly inaccurate. Think about 10 years ago today.

And just think, not even a decade ago it was 25 years just to upgrade into the left seat at USAir. A15-20 year career was considered great. Now a measly 30 years at the, “back end” of the hiring wave is bad?

Southwest isn't a legacy, but still.... Do you really think that was the first time that SW has hired someone without a 4 year degree ? No . That doesn't mean it's the norm or that legacies and majors are becoming desperate .

One of the legacies is talking about what ? Dropping the degree requirement? Delta is the only legacy that still has a hard requirement for a 4 year degree .

If you really think it's "already happening " please pass along what you're smoking on . It's still very competitive and the Legacies will literally never be desperate ... Ever .

Some things are hard to predict. This posters current age and the ages of current major pilots are well known. Their ages 7 years from now are not hard to predict.

The crux of the question was the value of the flow. It is reasonable to predict a 27 year old hired today would flow behind the retirement replacement wave.

Or even to one of the better ACMI where you’d be home based and never a commuter or crashpader. The salaries at Kalitta and Omni are on par with any major/legacy. Upgrades aren’t too long. By the time you flow at PSA to AA. You’d have been a widebody CA at either for many years. Faster upgrade at Omni with 121 time, but can get more hours monthly at Kalitta. Either way, you’re well over $200k inside of 2-3 years.... five before you’d flow to AA as a commuting crashpading new FO at $90 ph. You’d be well over 1/2 million ahead getting on with an LCC or ACMI before you’d ever flow. Southwest, Frontier, Spirit, JetBlue, Kalitta or Omni. You’ve got the time to go to just about any. It’s a great time to be a pilot. I wish I had these problems back when I was new....

Home based acmi Sounds really good if you are bound and determined to never live in Base

You sound just like any legacy guy who got hired when it wasn't competitive. Legacy USAir etc.
Omni, K4 etc don't come knocking on your door. You need almost the same qualifications as the legacies do to get a call.
It was different when you got hired. Now, it's way more competitive.

This needs to be said more often.

I'm convinced most legacy pilots hired pre-2001 would NEVER get the call today.