Backup plans?

[charlieoscar]

With the impending furloughs, what is everyone's backup plan when the bloodshed begins? I'm almost certain I'm getting the boot come October, so I'm looking for ideas. What else can a dispatch cert. get you? Does dispatch experience hold any value in any other industry? Please calm me down!

 

[bafanguy]

Does dispatch experience hold any value in any other industry? Please calm me down!

Good question. Train or trucking companies ?

 

[ATLiens]

With the impending furloughs, what is everyone's backup plan when the bloodshed begins? I'm almost certain I'm getting the boot come October, so I'm looking for ideas. What else can a dispatch cert. get you? Does dispatch experience hold any value in any other industry? Please calm me down!

Train dispatch jobs pay well and seem to still be hiring but I’ve heard the QOL is pretty terrible.

 

[fsxflyhigh]

Train dispatch jobs pay well and seem to still be hiring but I’ve heard the QOL is pretty terrible.

At least train dispatchers have better QOL then train crew. Not to mention that railroad retirement seems pretty decent. Although I heard Union Pacific RR up in Omaha recently furloughed 100 dispatchers back in March after combining sectors. Soo there goes my plan A...

The big question is how willing are people going to be to move for different jobs. There are still several 135/91 operators that need flight coordinators in places you never thought of living. I'm sure they are going to get a lot of resumes though coming October. I'm looking at probably either falling back to my fancy degree in atmospheric/environmental science, or I honestly wouldn't mind passenger railroad conductor (Not as bad of QOL as freight). To think that I turned down a comfy state government air quality job last year to play airline dispatcher. Woops!

 

[paincorp]

I’m gonna go live amongst the hill people.

 

[Troy McClure]

One word.....WEED.

 

[mrezee]

Train dispatch jobs pay well and seem to still be hiring but I’ve heard the QOL is pretty terrible.

One of the managers at my last airline did that for a while, he said the same thing. Completely different from airline dispatch. He hated it.

 

[manniax]

One of the managers at my last airline did that for a while, he said the same thing. Completely different from airline dispatch. He hated it.

Someone in the class ahead of me did that for several years, but evidently didn't like it because he got rehired back in my shop a couple of years ago. I think that with all the pay raises that airline dispatchers got in recent years makes the airline industry a more attractive option now...although the railroad does probably have a better pension than passenger airlines, as @fsxflyhigh mentioned. I had another friend get hired to be a train dispatcher for Amtrak in the Boston area, and she also didn't like it very much - either the schedule (two days off a week, but they were non-consecutive) or the job itself. She never got fully signed off before quitting and finding a different gig.

Another possible job is working as a pipeline controller for oil companies. I know several people left Continental to give that a try, since Houston has a fair number of oil companies headquartered there...some of them liked it very well (and are still doing it) while for others it wasn't their cup of tea and they quit. I don't know what the job entails exactly though.

 

[flynryan692]

IT, specifically as a Network Engineer and trying to focus on network automation. Will do Help Desk stuff for a while if I have to. I'm probably not getting the boot, just a downgrade, but I'm also not really down for full time regional dispatching on indefinite reduced hours either, so deuces.

 

[Troy McClure]

Another well paid dispatching job is for the Light Rail or Subway systems. I have seen those advertised many times. The pay is quite good.

 

[F9DXER]

Just put your SO to work. As one ex-Continental Dispatcher would say - if my wife would only take that 4th job, my life would be easy.

 

[manniax]

A train dispatcher is more akin to an air traffic controller instead of a flight planner. In fact, at least in Canada, the job is referred to as a rail traffic controller. It's a cross between air traffic control, and an airline aircraft router. I'm not familiar with a pipeline controller, but it strikes me as similar to a train dispatcher; get the product where it needs to go.

Yeah I don't know too much of what either job fully involves, not having done either one myself....just sharing information about some other jobs I know that people with airline dispatch experience have gone into. Another possibility - 911 dispatch (I know someone that did this for several years who is a member of this forum) as well as bus or truck dispatching (don't know anyone that has done this personally, but I know bus dispatchers are employed by companies like Greyhound, and I've heard they like seeing an aircraft dispatcher license on your resume for that position.) I've also seen dispatcher positions advertised for public transportation positions (bus system, light rail, etc.) Basically for any "control/command center" type job, flight dispatching experience might make you an attractive candidate for that position....or at least help move your resume to the top of the pile when they are calling people for interviews.

 

[ParrotheadJGR11]

If it comes down to it.. I'll try something I've never done before.

I've pretty much worked in Aviation since college, with a break where I worked for local government.

 

[paincorp]

Just put your SO to work. As one ex-Continental Dispatcher would say - if my wife would only take that 4th job, my life would be easy.

Not trying to call anyone out, but I always find it funny when people making as much as mainline dispatchers complain about pay. There are so many people making way less than them making it work.

I had someone at a former job, when I was making ~$30k a year, tell me they couldn’t afford to make less than $70k a year, and their husband was still working. If I can make it work for $30k, I’m not sure why you’re struggling in the same area making over $100k combined.

 

[who'swho]

Get married, buy a house, and have kids, all while saving for retirement, and you'll understand very quickly.

Paincorp makes a pretty valid point. It really comes down to living within your means.

 

[flynryan692]

Not trying to call anyone out, but I always find it funny when people making as much as mainline dispatchers complain about pay. There are so many people making way less than them making it work.

I had someone at a former job, when I was making ~$30k a year, tell me they couldn’t afford to make less than $70k a year, and their husband was still working. If I can make it work for $30k, I’m not sure why you’re struggling in the same area making vet $100k combined.

It pains me to put this out there because I think regional pay needs to increase across the board, but I support my family of 6 (myself, wife, and four kids) on regional pay. It boggles my mind when a single person can't make it work. People are just bad with money.

 

[paincorp]

Get married, buy a house, and have kids, all while saving for retirement, and you'll understand very quickly.

The person that made that comment had no children, and rented an apartment.

If they had children and some big house, I get it, but it’s still something tasteless to say to someone making half of what you do.

Anyways, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

 

[Eskhobbs]

Not trying to call anyone out, but I always find it funny when people making as much as mainline dispatchers complain about pay. There are so many people making way less than them making it work.

I had someone at a former job, when I was making ~$30k a year, tell me they couldn’t afford to make less than $70k a year, and their husband was still working. If I can make it work for $30k, I’m not sure why you’re struggling in the same area making over $100k combined.

Most of the major SOCs are located in cities that are vastly more expensive than those where regionals/LCCs are located. 30k in indy is a whole lot different than 30k or even 50k in Seattle or Chicago. Still don't know how the folks at QX manage, I moved to Seattle not too long ago and you need to make 70k+ to live somewhat comfortably out here without a roommate.

But again... mo money, mo problems.

 

[manniax]

I had someone at a former job, when I was making ~$30k a year, tell me they couldn’t afford to make less than $70k a year, and their husband was still working. If I can make it work for $30k, I’m not sure why you’re struggling in the same area making over $100k combined.

Yeah I remember jumpseating once when I was at a regional making around $30K and the FO said to the captain, "I don't even know if I'll break $100K this year!" And I thought, man...what a rough life. Of course, I was single and living in a fairly low-cost area, and I don't know what his situation was. That being said...if you just took a pay cut to start at a major, or just paid for a move to a new city and are suddenly looking at a possible October furlough...I'd be pretty worried also.

 

[SteveC]

Paincorp makes a pretty valid point. It really comes down to living within your means.

Reminds me of when I was installing/supervising equipment at a factory just outside of Cairo back in the early eighties, and the local factory ”skilled trades” guys were doing the majority of the work for me. I was there for quite a few months and got to be friends with many of them in spite of the language barrier. I remember being semi-dumbfounded when I figured out how little they were being paid...the higher paid guys (ones who were decent welders for example) were making equivalent to $1 a day.

I remember what an awakening it was for me to figure out that money was not a prerequisite for being happy and enjoying life, family, friends, and good jokes. I enjoyed my time with them immensely.

(Don’t get me wrong, money helps off-load a ton of “stuff”, and I ain’t giving you mine, but it is not as necessary to happiness as our society would have you believe.)