When does your seat lock begin as a new hire?

Trying to determine if I get ATL/DTW 717 or NYC220 if I’ll have to wait a year to bid over to LAX or if there’s an AE before starting/finishing training you can bid over.

 

Seat lock begins day 1 of indoc. If you want LAX you should avoid the 220 and especially the 717 at all costs. You'll be stuck on those fleets for at least 12 months until you can bid to anything in LAX. 717 to DTW or ATL would be a terrible commute from the west coast. At least with the 220 you could end up in SLC or SEA for a slightly easier commute. If you get the 320, 737, or 7ER right off the bat then you can bid to LAX as soon as there is an AE.

 

Seat lock starts day 1 (95% sure on that) On AEs, it starts the day the results are posted.

If you get ATL/DTW717 or NYC220, your seat lock would only be 1 year since neither of those planes are in LAX. But it could be up to a year after before you convert (depending on the AE)

If you wanted to move sooner and got NYC220, you could bid 220 to SLC or SEA if an AE comes out in training.

 

So my question is then, when can new hires ACTUALLY be considered for a position on an AE? Example is that a NYC220B wants to get DTW717B. When is the earliest AE that they could do that. For simplicity, seat lock started Jan 1.

 

one year from hire in that case. The company has 210 (usual) to 365 (once a calendar year) days to convert you after award to the new position though.

 

-seat lock starts DOH
-as long as you are on property you can bid on an AE
-if you were hired 1/1/22 the earliest you can change planes (to get a new base) is on an AE that closes on or after 1/1/23

 

We don’t have a “seat lock”. What we have at Delta is a “bid lock”.

Once eligible to bid after 1 or 2 years as a NH, you may still end up in your seat for up to a year depending on how long the conversions take. Some are 180 days, once a year they do 365 days.

Worst case if you are on the wrong plane and can’t get to your home base that you’d like(say you are ATL 717, but want LAX 737) could be up to two + years. If a bid closes right before your one year is up, you could theoretically have to wait 3-5 months for another bid and if it’s a 365 day conversion you technically may have to wait another year bringing your “one year” seat lock out to 2-2.5 years.

This happened to some guys I know that were awarded ATL MD-88 that lived in the NYC area right after we closed NYC88. They had to do ATL for a year, then there were no bids for a while, then it was a long conversion.

 

It's 210 days, not 180.

And the 365 is only if the bid that contains a displacement...it's technically possibly DL could offer numerous AE's in a calendar year and not have a 365 window.

PWA 22.D.11

Your point about worse case timing is valid though.

 

That answers my question. “Bid lock” is a better way to put it. Thank you

 

Keep in mind you can bail out of your NH lock if a new category opens and you are awarded it…for example. You are hired today on the 717 Atl, but live in Seattle. In 2 months, a bid comes out opening 320 in SEA. You can be awarded sea 320 on the bid if your seniority can hold it…….I’m 99% sure