Originally Posted by
DropYourSocks
A lot of legacies in the US now have flow programs for their regional pilots into mainline, with expected flow dates. The benefit is that assuming everything goes according to plan you walk into your mainline job, the downside is you lose seniority numbers in the meantime and run the risk of the economy slowing down before you get there. If you leave your regional for anywhere other than your legacy, you cannot apply off the street to that legacy for 12 months.
My opinion of these types of programs is that they are weapons designed to keep pilots where management wants them, ie staffing their feeders at cheaper rates. Qantas does the same thing with their Links, and for the same reasons. That leaves Aussies that want the big Q on their resume two options. Stay at your Link, and know you'll be there a long time, or leave your Link and take your chances.
Hardly the same thing, in the states it is a guaranteed flow, in Australia it's just a carrot dangle with no guarantee of flow to mainline what-so-ever.