Originally Posted by Check Essential

I just drop in on this thread once in a while so maybe I missed some of your earlier posts. I might be reading you wrong but this post makes it sound like you are going to move your family to the NY area because that is what you are going to get in the new hire class drop. I WOULD NOT do that unless that is where you really want to live long term. Your last 4 starting with "0" still puts you senior to every guy in every class behind you. It does not condemn you to live somewhere you don't want to be.
With all the hiring and movement at the bottom of the seniority list it is highly likely that you would be able to bid out of NY within a couple months. The only way you might get stuck up there for longer than that is maybe if you are on the 7ER. Even then it looks like the bottom of the list on that plane is going to get pretty junior at other bases also.
There's no guarantee of course but I would bet that anybody going to class in the next several months who gets assigned to NYC against their wishes will not be stuck there for long. There is no freeze if your bid out does not require training. Just commute to NY for a couple months and wait for an AE to get to ATL, DTW, MSP or wherever it is you want to be. West Coast might take longer of course. More senior out there.

I apologize if you were already aware of all that. Just wanted to make sure you are not making a major family decision to move to New York based on a faulty assumption or misunderstanding about how category assignments work. With hiring going on for the foreseeable future, you can bid out of NY fairly quickly.