No worries. And no excuse required.

When we ratified the TA on December 1st, not everything in the new PWA took effect as of that date - some provisions were deferred. Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) 16-02 is the document (found near the end of the new PWA) which lists the new provisions (by section) that didn't become effective on December 1st and it lists the "no later than" dates each of those provisions will become effective.

One of the deferred items is the agreed-upon changes to category freezes (PWA Section 22.G). That new language is to become effective NLT the May 2017 bid period which obviously means it could become effective sooner. Under the new language:

"A pilot who is in the last 12 months of such category freeze may be awarded an AE or VD to another base for which qualification training is required if he is unable to be awarded an AE or VD to such base in his current position in a given posting. In such event, the balance of his existing category freeze will be added to the category freeze resulting from the new position award."

This section would apply to your quest to get to SLC because you only incurred a 12 month seat freeze therefore you are in the last 12 months of your category freeze and you would be "unable to be awarded an AE or VD to such base in his current position in a given posting" because there is no M88 category in SLC. Therefore, under this new provision, you can be awarded any seat in SLC that your seniority allows you to hold. The only "caveat" is that you will have to tack on any remaining seat freeze to your new AE.