Compass guys, what's up with the flowthrough?

[titans10]

Pardon my skepticism, but I'll believe it when I see it. The idea of scores of you guys skipping the interview and just pinning on your Delta wings is a little hard to accept...given the amazing vanity of the DAL pilot group and of the airline in general.

Something about regional airline pilots joining their ranks without being specifically, individually selected just doesn't sound realistic to me.

Great luck seeing that through...but I'll believe it when I see it and not a second before.

Very bitter....

 

[flap operator]

I love how the sentiment around here was that flows are bad and never work. Everyone seemed to ignore the fact that #1 - the XJ/CP flow to NW and now DL are different from the Eagle and XJet flows. And #2 everyone also ignores the fact that 13 Mesaba guys actually did get to flow to NWA when they were hiring for a short period of time before the merger. Wow, must be real awful for those guys that did flow, considering flows never work huh? And now that it appears to be gearing up again, people start pulling the it's not fair crap. Amazing. But this is FI, so I'm not surprised.

 

[SEVEN]

Pardon my skepticism, but I'll believe it when I see it. The idea of scores of you guys skipping the interview and just pinning on your Delta wings is a little hard to accept...given the amazing vanity of the DAL pilot group and of the airline in general.

Something about regional airline pilots joining their ranks without being specifically, individually selected just doesn't sound realistic to me.

Great luck seeing that through...but I'll believe it when I see it and not a second before.

It's already been done. Mesaba guys and gals previously on the list are already at Delta flying. I just deadheaded with a former Mesaba Capt flying right seat in the real "9". Hate to burst your bubble, but the flow will start up again real soon.

 

[DYLIN]

Pardon my skepticism, but I'll believe it when I see it. The idea of scores of you guys skipping the interview and just pinning on your Delta wings is a little hard to accept...given the amazing vanity of the DAL pilot group and of the airline in general.

Something about regional airline pilots joining their ranks without being specifically, individually selected just doesn't sound realistic to me.

Great luck seeing that through...but I'll believe it when I see it and not a second before.

Your skepticism is pardoned by me, as I too am a skeptic at these types of things.

But the reality of it all is, the flow language was carried into the JPWA at Delta during the merge, and Compass and Mesaba are currently preparing to lose 20 and 9 respectively per month, for a couple of months while this initial hiring is going on.

So, if you'll believe it when you see it (I'm in the same boat), you'll probably get to see it in the next 12 weeks sometime.

As far as skipping the interview goes.

Before the merge, the Compass interview was similar to the Northwest interview. In fact recently retired Northwest pilots made up 2/3 of the interview panel (the other was one or two HR people).

Then the merge happened, and while that was going on, Compass was done hiring the initial 320ish pilots that they needed to run the operation, and hiring was done at a trickle of a rate.

Now the merge is complete, and Delta is ready to hire. Compass, during that downtime while almost nobody was hired, has revamped the interview process to mirror that of Delta. There is no psych eval but I don't think anyone knows for sure yet if Delta is still going to do that for new hires (nobody has interviewed in this round thus far). Other than that, candidates go to ATL for one part of the interview and then do another part in MSP. So, this is the interview. Consider it having been done way early instead of skipped.

 

[johnpeace]

That's cool...I'm still skeptical. I don't expect many of the DAL new-hires to be flow-throughs...we'll see what happens I guess.

It's not bitterness...it's recognition of the absurdity of a pilot group like DAL's being forced to accept members that weren't 'culled' and hand selected.

Elitists don't like being infiltrated by 'commoners'.

It's not important anyway...

 

[SEVEN]

That's cool...I'm still skeptical. I don't expect many of the DAL new-hires to be flow-throughs...we'll see what happens I guess.

It's not bitterness...it's recognition of the absurdity of a pilot group like DAL's being forced to accept members that weren't 'culled' and hand selected.

Elitists don't like being infiltrated by 'commoners'.

It's not important anyway...

Who do you think allowed the flow anyways? Don't you understand how it works. It's more beneficial for the DAL/NWA pilots than anyone....especially with Compass. If there is any hiccup in the company, the DAL guys are guaranteed a job as opposed to being jobless. It creates a great safety net for the mainline pilots in the event of a furlough. Compass pilots can potentially be completely wiped out and flushed out by the Delta pilots. So, I hope you have a better understanding of how it works. If mainline didn't benefit from it, there would be no flow.

 

[Moustache]

Read the post above this one -- Jiminmem is absolutely right.

Since Compass was created people have been saying nonstop that the pilots there would be furloughed any month now due to mainline flowbacks. So far in this recession mainline just barely scraped by without sending anyone to the street. I am impressed at that, really, because so many other companies were not able to do that. Heck, look at UPS now furloughing in the face of an economic upswing! Unbelievable.

So, in return for 'keeping the seats warm' we see the flowthrough agreement about to work in the upwards direction.

I do agree with you -- the upward movement at Compass during this downturn has been a very unique situation. Bad times, but the place was created right before that started and very very few of the fNWA guys on the street took the opportunity to come back to CPZ before going all the way back to mainline, so they ended up needing new hires and of course there were some fast upgrades and such.

There is one more thing. You say that the people at Compass are a lucky bunch. In some ways, yes -- I mentioned those above. But when you examine the resumes of most of the pilots at Compass you would realize that although they are fortunate for the upward movement, very very very many of them had no opportunity to continue flying at their former employers, to include:
Gemini
ATA
Aloha
DHL
Continental
United
US Airways
NetJets
Comair
Midwest
Skyway
ExpressJet

The list goes on. Lucky, yes in some ways. But many would have stayed put if they could have. Fortunately, they found Compass and it's worked out alright so far (albeit an enormous paycut and QOL cut for most).

Dead on, well said!!!

 

[Moustache]

That's cool...I'm still skeptical. I don't expect many of the DAL new-hires to be flow-throughs...we'll see what happens I guess.

It's not bitterness...it's recognition of the absurdity of a pilot group like DAL's being forced to accept members that weren't 'culled' and hand selected.

Elitists don't like being infiltrated by 'commoners'.

It's not important anyway...

They took a bunch of Northwest pilots that were not DAL selected......in fact I think all of them? I will have to check my facts though!!!!

 

[johnpeace]

They took a bunch of Northwest pilots that were not DAL selected...

..and got a whole airline in exchange for that.

Don't you understand how it works.

I understand how it works.

Based on my experience though, I take them as too vain and pompous to be supportive of 'RJ pukes' just 'flowing' into their ranks.

Maybe it'll work out and a whole bunch of Compass/Mesaba pilots will become DAL pilots and it'll be cool for them...but I have my doubts. That's all.

 

[JoeMerchant]

1. The flow will end because Delta likes to select the "chosen" ones.

2. You flow to the bottom, just like you would be if you hired on in the first place. The flowbacks come in at the top....Hmmmm....sounds like a bad deal to me.

3. If you want the bottom, just apply and get hired...you don't need a "flowthrough".