Originally Posted by MikeF16

This was a huge help. I called Bill and will summarize in my response to CE.



Thanks that is great information. I know this will be quite a block of text but it might help others so I'll post it anyway.

Situation: I live in SAT, seat locked to 717B, currently domiciled NYC. I don't like commuting and will move into domicile (SEA and ATL only 2 wife approved domiciles) but due to age of my kids (school moves) I feel like I must move this summer or not at all.

Moving: I missed SEA 73n in January by 400 numbers and resigned myself to the reality that I would move to ATL. Got some sticker shock at housing prices in ATL, almost as expensive to buy there as SEA. Now DAL gives me an unexpected 2nd chance to be awarded SEA with 45 openings to SEA 73NB. Since the category is still considered new I don't have to worry about my seat lock. The 365 option could complicate things a bit.

Option 1: I am awarded SEA 73n. Worst case the company doesn't train me until Jan '16 which means about 6 months commuting SEA to NYC. That seems like a fairly challenging commute but it is certainly doable.

Option 1b: I could do a backup bid of LAX 717B and hope that I'd get an SEA award on a subsequent AE. Risky since it is entirely possible that more and more senior people continue to bid into SEA extending the time I'd be stuck commuting, not willing to take this risk. I either get SEA this AE or that dream is gone until the kids are off to college.

I asked Bill if I could swap bases from NYC to LAX while waiting for a hypothetical January '16 73N training date; however, since your seat lock begins upon award and not training completion I was told this was not possible.

Option 2: Bid ATL 717B. I was worried that if I bid on this particular AE then I could possibly be bypassed by somebody junior who is awarded ATL 717B on a subsequent AE. When I spoke with Bill he said that if I required training it would be possible for somebody junior to me to bid ATL 717B on a subsequent AE and train before me; but, since I would not require training then it would be highly unlikely if not impossible for this to happen.