Originally Posted by liptonT

Long time wallflower, but recently got the CJO and am super psyched!

I have a question for the DAL veterans in the room regarding initial plane selection and then follow on airplane selection after the one year seat lock:

My goal is to get to MSP sometime around the 2 year mark, but in the meantime my wife and I (no kids) are looking for some adventure and are groovy to be based anywhere and fly anything! Any particular airplane that is best for a new guy like me who wants fun trips and is not too concerned with being gone or on reserves for a little while? QOL for me will already be good because I'll be flying for DAL and we would love to live in New York, so if I'm on reserves for the year+ that we're in NYC I'm not overly concerned (am I crazy? let me know).

Back to MSP- I understand they have the 320, 88, and 7ER so I'm trying to figure out the dance that is necessary to set myself up to bid one of them around my 18-24 month timeframe in hopes of bidding MSP as a base. I'm learning a little bit about "AE's" and how they work, but is that the only way for pilots to transfer aircraft and/or bases? i.e. at the one year mark, if there is no AE does that mean I stay on my year one airplane, and at the 18-24 month mark, if there is no AE, does that mean I won't be able to bid MSP?

Also, how long are we locked into follow on airplanes?

Thanks in advance!