You're confusing two things. You can personal drop (PD) your entire schedule every month, if PCS allows you. To do so, there needs to be enough reserve converge though.

*Authorized* Personal drop (APD) is once per year, allows you to drop one rotation or up to 4 reserve days. Resets on your anniversary date or month, can't remember which.

Sorry, I should have clarified that I was refering to the APD option.

NICE! Read below..

"Right now, there's a company that dominates its industry, has tremendous earnings power when industry trends are favorable and is still in the midst of a far-reaching transformation that will unlock more profits when it's complete. I'm talking about Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL). Shares touched an 18-month low on Wednesday. The carrier is being hit will all kinds of challenges, but these challenges are surmountable. And when they pass, shares could double from here. Doing so would simply bring the stock back to its 52-week high hit last November.

The best horse in the race
Just last week, I took a deep look at rival AMR (NYSE: AMR), parent of American Airlines, and found the company to be in such trouble that bankruptcy is a real possibility in coming years. In so many respects, Delta is strong where AMR is weak. This means Delta should survive in a lousy economy and thrive in a rising economy."

Delta Air Lines: A Well Run Company That Is Seriously Undervalued - Seeking Alpha


TEN

I think it resets on the 1st day of your anniversary month.
So in your scenario, if March is your hire date and you want to drop a trip in March, that's it for the year. Until the next March 1.

We're talking APDs here. iaflyer is correct- you can use as many personal drops as you want as long as there's reserve coverage.

From SD's latest memo, no hiring this year, and possibly not Spring:

Over 160 pilots and 2,000 total employees elected to participate. The pilot exits will begin when we start to pull down flying in September, and we expect them to be completed by the end of the year. Many of the retirements were from the 330 and 747 fleets, and we are moving forward with our plan to modify our 330-200 crew rest facilities and fly those aircraft on flights greater than 12 hours. This of course means we need more Captains in the 330 fleet. The early retirements coupled with the need for more 330 Captains means we have some significant training coming up in the next nine months. Right now, we are staffed properly for the rest of the year and the flying we expect to see at the beginning of next year.

Although I could see an AE in September to fill the 330 slots.

Ten -- great article. If Libya gets resolved it says Delta shares could easily get to $16. But it's bearish on American Airlines with all the huge debt it just incurred with the aircraft order. Glad to hear analysts are bullish on DAL.

We have the most bizarre pay system I've ever seen.

I have no idea why DALPA hung on to this archaic system for so long. It made no sense. Glad it has been changed, & thanks DALPA/Delta. :)

Trust me, Uncle Sam and the military does. Especially if you are Guard or Reserve.

DAL paid $1 billion more last quarter than a year ago for fuel, yet still made a profit of $366 million. So when fuel costs weren't this high how could anyone (e.g. DALPA reps I come across) say the company can't afford pay restoration or anything close to it? The few DALPA guys I've flown with (both former and active) tell me profit sharing is the way to go, and that I shouldn't expect a significant (for me that means 20% or more) increase in pay (day 1).

I won't pretend to be as smart as a lot of guys on this thread about all things Delta, but I just don't get how one can make the argument pay restoration isn't affordable, yet at the same time a billion more can be found to cover other costs. And, yes, I get that ticket prices can more easily be increased to deal with fuel costs than they can for labor, but until someone starts making an argument labor costs increase as well, pilots all over are going to remain relegated to the results equivalent to their low expectations. Granted, the company is making moves to reduce costs and maximize revenue where it can, and we can't expect each quarter to be profitable with such huge fuel cost increases. But $1 billion more for the qtr compared to a year ago and I'm supposed to expect something around a 5% pay rate increase?