Career Advice

hawk10

Well-Known Member
Hey all, I have a brief question for the experienced regarding my career and getting into dispatch. I have worked for several airlines, in flight ops but never in dispatch. I do have a degree, as well. I am now at a freight airliner but I don't want to live in the city we're headquartered in. I absolutely can't live here forever. For my current position, I did have to sign a contract where I have a year left before I can even apply for dispatch. My goal is to end up with AA or WN. I have two routes left before I throw in the towel.

Should I stick around and try to dispatch here, get experience, and hopefully get into dispatch at WN or AA?

Should I leave this freight carrier for a regional to get the experience and eventually get into WN or AA?
 
There are several threads that go around and around with advice on situations similar to this. I understand needing to get some guidance on the best direction to take but honestly either option works for some. You will read and or hear advice for both routes you have outlined.

At the end of the day it comes down to this:

You could go to the regionals to get experience, but you must accept the possibility that you might not make it to AA or WN in dispatch. That doesn’t mean you won’t, it worked for me. BUT, you have to go into it knowing that is a possibility.

You could try for another position within one of those two companies but again, you must accept the possibility that you might never make it into dispatch at that company.

It’s hard for me to say I would do anything differently than I did because going the regional route worked for me. But I feel like I got very lucky. And I will say that if you can get on doing something similar or that pays well that you semi-enjoy at the major you actually want to work at, you could at least start taking part in company 401k matching, profit sharing, accruing vacation, networking within the company to try for dispatch....those kinds of things. Search around on this forum. You will find many responses from people who know a whole lot more than me. At the end of the day though, you have to just weigh your odds, risk it, network, work your a$$ off, and honestly get a little lucky. Good luck!
 
There are several threads that go around and around with advice on situations similar to this. I understand needing to get some guidance on the best direction to take but honestly either option works for some. You will read and or hear advice for both routes you have outlined.

At the end of the day it comes down to this:

You could go to the regionals to get experience, but you must accept the possibility that you might not make it to AA or WN in dispatch. That doesn’t mean you won’t, it worked for me. BUT, you have to go into it knowing that is a possibility.

You could try for another position within one of those two companies but again, you must accept the possibility that you might never make it into dispatch at that company.

It’s hard for me to say I would do anything differently than I did because going the regional route worked for me. But I feel like I got very lucky. And I will say that if you can get on doing something similar or that pays well that you semi-enjoy at the major you actually want to work at, you could at least start taking part in company 401k matching, profit sharing, accruing vacation, networking within the company to try for dispatch....those kinds of things. Search around on this forum. You will find many responses from people who know a whole lot more than me. At the end of the day though, you have to just weigh your odds, risk it, network, work your a$$ off, and honestly get a little lucky. Good luck!

Thanks for the response. How long did it take for you to get from the regionals to the majors?
 
Hey all, I have a brief question for the experienced regarding my career and getting into dispatch. I have worked for several airlines, in flight ops but never in dispatch. I do have a degree, as well. I am now at a freight airliner but I don't want to live in the city we're headquartered in. I absolutely can't live here forever. For my current position, I did have to sign a contract where I have a year left before I can even apply for dispatch. My goal is to end up with AA or WN. I have two routes left before I throw in the towel.

Should I stick around and try to dispatch here, get experience, and hopefully get into dispatch at WN or AA?

Should I leave this freight carrier for a regional to get the experience and eventually get into WN or AA?

If you hate the city the freight airline is in, it might be good to start getting some 121 dispatch experience - and then at least you'd be moving away from there! (Although it can be hard to make ends meet on a regional salary.) If you have your license already, I personally would start applying around at regionals, and get some practical 121 experience - then you could make the move to a 121 supplemental or cargo airline or ULCC, get experience on bigger aircraft, or (if you're lucky) go straight to the majors from your regional. There is a lot of interest in regional positions at majors these days...but there will be a fair bit of hiring in the next few years also, as baby boomers continue to retire. And, even if you don't make it to a major, several of the ULCC carriers and cargo carriers pay pretty well. I wouldn't try and make a career at a regional - but there would be nothing wrong with, say, eventually getting on with Frontier and living in Denver until you retire (or if you prefer the beach, getting on with Spirit and living in Florida.) With your experience, I think you should be able to get a regional job pretty quickly. Just be prepared to do some moving on your quest to AA/WN! In my case, it took over 10 years for me to make it to the majors, but I probably could have gotten there sooner if I'd applied sooner - I was at a national airline that I liked quite well and was planning to stay at long-term, but they went out of business - so I went back to a regional for a couple of years and then got on with a major.
 
Hey all, I have a brief question for the experienced regarding my career and getting into dispatch. I have worked for several airlines, in flight ops but never in dispatch. I do have a degree, as well. I am now at a freight airliner but I don't want to live in the city we're headquartered in. I absolutely can't live here forever. For my current position, I did have to sign a contract where I have a year left before I can even apply for dispatch. My goal is to end up with AA or WN. I have two routes left before I throw in the towel.

Should I stick around and try to dispatch here, get experience, and hopefully get into dispatch at WN or AA?

Should I leave this freight carrier for a regional to get the experience and eventually get into WN or AA?
What about making a lateral move to another cargo carrier in a different city?
 
What about making a lateral move to another cargo carrier in a different city?

All the cargo carriers are in places that I don’t want to live. So that’s not an option. I’m willing to dispatch where I am currently and get with AA or WN. I just don’t know how difficult it may be to switch from cargo to passenger.
 
Given the restrictions you've placed on yourself, your path forward is limited to Envoy.

Not a bad route though. Envoy has been hiring ever 3 or 4 months and a good chunk of external hires at AA come from Envoy. Only real negative is that the pay is some of the worst in the regionals.
 
Given the restrictions you've placed on yourself, your path forward is limited to Envoy.
What I mean is this.. Let's say I'm currently working for UPS and can easily get into dispatch here. I'd like to stay here, get some experience and then hopefully get on with AA or WN. Does anybody know the odds of switching from cargo dispatch to passenger dispatch?
 
Not a bad route though. Envoy has been hiring ever 3 or 4 months and a good chunk of external hires at AA come from Envoy. Only real negative is that the pay is some of the worst in the regionals.
I've been seeing their postings. I don't think I want to go back to a regional. I feel like it's a little too late for that, with a family to support.
 
All the cargo carriers are in places that I don’t want to live. So that’s not an option. I’m willing to dispatch where I am currently and get with AA or WN. I just don’t know how difficult it may be to switch from cargo to passenger.
I was curious because, if you go to a regional, you WILL take a pay cut. At least if you went to another cargo carrier, your salary would be similar to what you're getting now; if you had to take a cut, it wouldn't be the deep cut you'll take by going to a regional.
 
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