American Airlines Dispatch Quality of Life

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dxcopy62

Well-Known Member
Curious about the quality of life for a new hire dispatcher at American Airlines. I know the pay is good, but what about QoL? What start time do new hires usually get? How long until you are made a dispatcher with your own line? How quickly does seniority accrue? Is there a lot of "junior manning" that goes on to cover shifts or is the opposite true, not a lot of overtime for new hires? How is morale overall in the office? Thanks.

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PBR me ASAP said:
Lots of free retirement cake
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Yes, food for days.

Not at AA, but overtime spills to everyone that wants it, and weekends and holidays can be had without too much effort, especially if you have comp time to give out. People sometimes get junior manned into shifts, but it isn't often. With some luck and fortuitous timing, there will be a bunch of retirements coming up and you'll shoot up the ladder.
 
dxcopy62 said:
Curious about the quality of life for a new hire dispatcher at American Airlines. I know the pay is good, but what about QoL? What start time do new hires usually get? How long until you are made a dispatcher with your own line? How quickly does seniority accrue? Is there a lot of "junior manning" that goes on to cover shifts or is the opposite true, not a lot of overtime for new hires? How is morale overall in the office? Thanks.
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Domestic desks have a regional airline like workload. You will get paid well but will need to work for the money. We havent had new hires since we started the new schedule so there is no typical start times for new hires. My guess would be 930PM starts would be the most common but if you are put on a vacation relief schedule, you might get a mix of 0400, 0500, 0600, 1300, 1400, 1500 starts. You might get a domestic midnight line right away as they go very junior.

We do not junior man for overtime shifts. Overtime doesnt even start to get filled usually until 24 hours prior. This means there are desks that do go uncovered. There is a ton of overtime available right now.

Seniority actually doesnt move as fast right now as it did a few years ago. We closed desks when the operation combined and increased the workload plus the retirements slowed due to the new contract. This should pick up again soon.

As a new hire you will be limited to domestic flying only for two years from when you are upgraded.
 
Regular work rotation is 4-3-4-4, even if you're on a relief line. Alot of folks find a buddy bidder and go straight days or nights and/or 8 on 7 off. 8/7 imo makes midnights much more tolerable. More OT available than you can shake a stick at.

Once the workload issue gets resolved, and perhaps some minor adjustments to 2nd qualification, the qol will be perfect.
 
R2D said:
Yes, food for days.

Not at AA, but overtime spills to everyone that wants it, and weekends and holidays can be had without too much effort, especially if you have comp time to give out. People sometimes get junior manned into shifts, but it isn't often. With some luck and fortuitous timing, there will be a bunch of retirements coming up and you'll shoot up the ladder.
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Everyone rotates through weekends. 6 weeks you are in weekends and 6 you are out. So it's equal through out. The junior people don't get screwed in that sense. Midnight shift is mostly junior. You would be off that in a couple of years.

There are people who will never be happy with anything they have. So does a few people hate it, sure, but that's everywhere.
 
dxcopy62 said:
Curious about the quality of life for a new hire dispatcher at American Airlines. I know the pay is good, but what about QoL? What start time do new hires usually get? How long until you are made a dispatcher with your own line? How quickly does seniority accrue? Is there a lot of "junior manning" that goes on to cover shifts or is the opposite true, not a lot of overtime for new hires? How is morale overall in the office? Thanks.

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The morale in the office is mixed. Some people are happy, some people are content, and some people are unhappy.

The workload is too high on the Domestic desks, especially on the Northeast and Southeast Desks. Management has not been receptive to suggestions to improve the Desks in the past and is very out of touch with how the desks are run.The desks are setup for clear VFR days with no turbulence or other weather. When the weather is bad, they try to call in overtime but management only considers weather bad if a huge thunderstorm is going to hit DFW, ORD or the Northeast. If they do call in overtime, it's normally too late, can't get anyone in, or only a few flights get taken off your desk. In one case, the FAA has been in the office to investigate a incident where Management disciplined a Dispatcher for making a decision to maintain a safe workload when the weather was bad. Management has made no commitments to open more desks reduce the workload and the recent hiring will only cover some retires and some holes in the schedule on desks already open.

AA has hired more "Sector Managers" on the bridge. Many with no previous IOC Airline experience or Dispatch experience. Some internals from outside the IOC and some externals from outside the Company. A lot of these managers are now stepping on the toes of Dispatchers and Operations Coordinators/Equipment Desk and making some not so good decisions on how things are run. Communication in the office is poor due to the multiple channels of managers you are expected to contact. Managers are tripping on each other on the bridge instead of enabling the Dispatchers and Equipment Desks with years of experience make the best operational decisions for the airline.

It seems like Management wants to dumb down the Dispatcher job into release clerks doing tons of releases. Move the decision making to Management on the bridge and beef up Hub Control Centers at the Hubs to take over the posting of Delays.
 
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