tennisguru

As was mentioned above there is no lock on going to a different base on the same aircraft. It all comes down to the timing of the bids and of course your seniority has to be able to hold a spot in your desired base. I'd say that most new hires should be able to transfer bases in under 12 months. Even if they still can't hold the base of their choice (SEA or MSP, for example are pretty senior) someone could at least bid out of NYC to a city that is easier to commute to.

The catch comes if you want to go to a domicile where your assigned aircraft doesn't have a fleet base. In that case you cannot change aircraft for 12 months, plus once you do bid over you add an additional 12 months to your new 24 month seat lock, meaning you are now aircraft locked for 36 months. The biggest issue here is once your 12 months are up it may be another 4-6 months before another bid posts that even allows you to be awarded something else, and it can still be many more months after that before you even convert to your new base.

Thus for current new hires who don't want NYC long term you should be bidding your aircraft based on portability. The 737 offers the most other bases to transfer to, followed by the 717 (although the 717 tends to be more junior and thus may be easier to transfer sooner so if your desired base has both it may be better to bid 717). The worst is the A220 since your only other option right now is SLC. The A220 guys are the ones who are most likely going to have to wait a while before holding the base they want.