I had 18 months of an existing freeze when I bid the latest new category last March. It was coincidently also my first captain bid at Delta. I got the bid and noticed icrew had my new freeze pushed out 36 months (2 years for the new category plus my existing 18 months).
I called crew resources and explained what I thought happened, from how I interpreted the contract.
If you are bidding to a first time captain slot to an existing category, you can get the award even though you have an existing freeze, but the existing freeze is tacked on to the new 2 year freeze. This is how they initially interpreted my situation.
If you are bidding to a new category, however, any existing freeze is waved and you incur only a new 2 year freeze.
They agreed and my freeze was adjusted back to just the 2 years.
Again, my situation may be different because it was first captain and new category, so I'd ask around more before you bank on it.
In regards to first time captain, 22.G.6 says: A pilot who is under a category freeze and who has not previously completed training for a mainline Captain position will nevertheless be eligible to be awarded a Captain position. In such event, the balance of such pilot's existing category freeze shall be added to the category freeze resulting from the Captain position award.
In regards to a new category freeze, 22.A.7.c says: Category freeze means a period of time...during which the pilot will (unless declared eligible by the Company) be ineligible to be awarded another AE with an earliest conversion date falling within the freeze period (other than to a new or reestablished category) for which qualification training is required.
Last edited by casual observer; 11-09-2019 at 10:22 PM.