Club Furlough

[Luigi]

I’m not panicking yet. Things are trending up, so I’m gonna give it a month or two before I make any final decisions. I am very seriously considering whether my regional is where I potentially want to be long term now that the outlook isn’t as bright. May try to jump if another regional open ups, but even then I haven’t decided.

My guess would be 3 years (at least) till the next major hiring. Every major so far has said they plan to come out the other side of this crisis as a smaller airline. So if on the other side of this you feel like you aren’t happy at your regional, and another regional is hiring. Go for it! But be prepared to be bottom of seniority for awhile, because if the majors aren’t hiring...no one will really be leaving.

The 3 years statement is a pure guess. I have no evidence to back this up. Truthfully it even feels a bit optimistic to me.

 

[paincorp]

My guess would be 3 years (at least) till the next major hiring. Every major so far has said they plan to come out the other side of this crisis as a smaller airline. So if on the other side of this you feel like you aren’t happy at your regional, and another regional is hiring. Go for it! But be prepared to be bottom of seniority for awhile, because if the majors aren’t hiring...no one will really be leaving.

The 3 years statement is a pure guess. I have no evidence to back this up. Truthfully it even feels a bit optimistic to me.

Yeah. That’s part of my hesitation, but I’m also mentally preparing for this to cause me to stay at a regional forever worst case, and I know I don’t want to work at my current one for the rest of my life.

It’s a tough decision long term.

 

[flynryan692]

Those of you who suddenly found yourselves without a dispatch job, what are your plans now?

I'm skeptical as to whether or not my position will be around in October, but I'm relatively confident with my seniority they'd slide me back to full time dispatch. Even though that may be the case I'm not sure I want to do that, so I'm making sure I have something to jump to outside of aviation. I'll make a decision when/if it happens.

Fortunately the backup plan pays more out of the gate, has a higher ceiling, and is also something I can do almost anywhere in the country, so I guess it's win-win for me.

 

[Athlaka]

As a counter perspective what are the prospects of going into dispatch now with no experience? No one really knows the future I get that, but is it still a viable career path? Regionals are in turmoil and majors most likely won’t hire in the foreseeable future..

 

[flygirl142]

Considering I spent about 6k to get a job promotion for all of about 2 years... I'd love to get a job in dispatch again but honestly I'm feeling lost. The skills dont transfer to many other positions.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

As long as it was at least $1.50, financially, you came out ahead. Sucks though from a time perspective though.
Financially, you've lost nothing but you've hopefully gained knowledge and skills that you can apply to other jobs. (I don't know if your previous job was a similar skill set or not.

 

[A-9er]

As long as it was at least $1.50, financially, you came out ahead. Sucks though from a time perspective though.
Financially, you've lost nothing but you've hopefully gained knowledge and skills that you can apply to other jobs. (I don't know if your previous job was a similar skill set or not.

Considering I spent about 6k to get a job promotion for all of about 2 years... I'd love to get a job in dispatch again but honestly I'm feeling lost. The skills dont transfer to many other positions.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

I beg to differ with you. One HUGE transferable skill is customer service; you're dealing with people all day on the phone. You're talking to pilots, MX control, scheduling, people at out stations, and ATC. to name a few. A guy I trained with ended up leaving; DX wasn't for him. He got a job as a registrar at a local hospital. They're the people who check you in.

 

[paincorp]

A regional is a regional is a regional. The only meaningful difference between them is location. Pick a place you want to live, and go work for that one.

That’s true up until the point that you realize all remaining regional carriers took money under the same agreement, and only one has furloughed.

 

[KiloEchoVictor]

I like how this thread went from “hey, a bunch of us lost our jobs when our employer didn’t follow the CARES Act” to “screw you, internals with no experience make better dispatchers, you have bad habits.”

Crabs in a bucket, which is how the bigwigs like it. Fighting between work groups is bad enough, contained fighting within disciplines is the primo stuff executives and managers love. And it's much easier to do with us desk jockeys because we don't have unions like crews have unions. They have real worker solidarity in those work groups, and for some reason after all this time, we still don't. There's a serious problem with this "**** you, I got mine" mentality that I keep seeing pop up in flight control.
Case in point:

Calm down man

Depending on a person's seniority and level of experience, this whole thing could have effectively been a career-ending event. I know RPA dispatchers who were there for only a couple of years or even just in their first year, so even when hiring opens up it will be very difficult for them to advance themselves, if they can get back in at all. The best bet for them seems to be to hope for a recall, but there's no way to know if or when that will happen.

It shows Republic agreed to CARES Act money on 5/12, yet they furloughed 1/3 of their Dispatchers around 4/28 which is within a week of many of their competitors and partners accepting money. How scummy. I've heard through the grapevine they're trying to play hardball with partner carrier minimum guarantees too and it's not going to be a pretty end result if they keep it up. They deserve it (the company, not the employees), now is not the the time to be biting the hand that literally feeds you.

My prediction is that RPA will probably end up declaring bankruptcy again as a result of all this. If they ever do manage to get back to a point where they can start recalling people, I have a hard time believing that they'll be able to get everybody to come back. It could be months or even next year before they get to that point, given how badly demand is still suppressed, especially with now having the riots on top of the virus. Nobody wants to travel through cities that are being burned to the damn ground.

That’s true up until the point that you realize all remaining regional carriers took money under the same agreement, and only one has furloughed.

Makes you wonder what else they're not saying...

 

[manniax]

A regional is a regional is a regional. The only meaningful difference between them is location. Pick a place you want to live, and go work for that one.

Having worked for three different regional airlines over the course of my career, I'll have to disagree with this sentiment. While none of them had great pay, one of them was markedly worse in terms of management and quality of life (as well as benefits) than the other two.

 

[dx8709]

As a counter perspective what are the prospects of going into dispatch now with no experience? No one really knows the future I get that, but is it still a viable career path? Regionals are in turmoil and majors most likely won’t hire in the foreseeable future..

It depends. Are you spending your last dollar or taking a loan to do the DX license? In the last 6 months we've had two good sized regionals disappear completely and there are many experienced DXers who are unemployed who will flood any open position with applications. A lot of people who complete dispatch school never find employment as a dispatcher. If this is what you want to do and you won't go into some kind of hardship to get the ticket, go do it. Study hard, make connections, and expect to end up in a scheduling department or slinging bags for a little while while you wait.

 

[bilbolinski]

A lot of people who complete dispatch school never find employment as a dispatcher.

I like and agree with your post, except for this. I guess the term "a lot" can be subjective to oneself, and although it will most certainly take some time to find a job, I wouldn't go as far to make the statement of "never" either. It will, without question, be harder to find a job going forward though; however - not impossible.

 

[KiloEchoVictor]

expect to end up in a scheduling department or slinging bags for a little while while you wait.

What's scary is that this was already the reality for many people even before all of this. Your point about the sheer number of newly (or soon to be) unemployed dispatchers flooding any new job postings can't be overstated. It's going to be very hard for anybody who was or will be furloughed to get back on the horse when demand finally comes back.

 

[Troy McClure]

.......I guess the term "a lot" can be subjective to oneself, and although it will most certainly take some time to find a job, I wouldn't go as far to make the statement of "never" either. It will, without question, be harder to find a job going forward though; however - not impossible.

KEV...you are correct....a lot can mean ONE. or 1,000 just depends on the denominator. And Im sure there will be "uh job" out there...But what kind of job? Now, THAT is subjective for sure in this biz. I think dx8709 was talking about the 121 path forward to a major. The yellow brick road if you will. But sure there will "uh job" in some sort of capacity. I see lots of odd-ball companies advertising for so called dispatchers. I did 135 charter for a small outfit, WORST JOB EVER!. Burger King was awesome compared to this bag of a-holes. And all you do is call catering and limo companies and Customs...AWFUL. Some folks love it (#13$/hr) I have no idea what motivations you possess, but if you really gotta have it, then good luck.

 

[dx8709]

KEV...you are correct....a lot can mean ONE. or 1,000 just depends on the denominator. And Im sure there will be "uh job" out there...But what kind of job? Now, THAT is subjective for sure in this biz. I think dx8709 was talking about the 121 path forward to a major. The yellow brick road if you will. But sure there will "uh job" in some sort of capacity. I see lots of odd-ball companies advertising for so called dispatchers. I did 135 charter for a small outfit, WORST JOB EVER!. Burger King was awesome compared to this bag of a-holes. And all you do is call catering and limo companies and Customs...AWFUL. Some folks love it (#13$/hr) I have no idea what motivations you possess, but if you really gotta have it, then good luck.

Yeah, I guess I should've been a little more clear on that. When I went through DX school we were told that out of all the licensed aircraft dispatchers "out there," there are relatively few who are actively employed in work that requires their certificate. It really is a small world and it's getting smaller. In my class alone, I know that roughly half the folks who finished either could not obtain work as a dispatcher or decided not to pursue work as a dispatcher, and a small number of them were foreign nationals who were never going to exercise their certificate in the US.

 

[futureb737pilot]

"futureb737pilot said:
Calm down man"

@KiloEchoVictor "Depending on a person's seniority and level of experience, this whole thing could have effectively been a career-ending event. I know RPA dispatchers who were there for only a couple of years or even just in their first year, so even when hiring opens up it will be very difficult for them to advance themselves, if they can get back in at all. The best bet for them seems to be to hope for a recall, but there's no way to know if or when that will happen. "


I was one of which you speak of at RPA. I hope its not the end of my dispatch career. I too am equally frustrated by this whole event. Just don't think getting heated on a forum site helps much. Me calling him out probably didn't help either

 

[paincorp]

Not saying anything here I didn’t say at work. Just don’t appreciate the last word you originally used, but I’m sure you saw my message.

While the situation is •, I’m making the best of it, and laughing about the incompetence of how this was all handled. I’m sure you see the same messages that I do. We both need to be sticking together and not potentially throwing someone under the bus like you did. Things are already looking up, and we may be sitting side by side again soon.

Wasn’t a fan of RPA before this, really not a fan of them now. And yes, it did really bother me when someone came in here and tried to claim that my experience meant nothing compared to their non-dispatch experience. That should bother anyone that has actually dispatched a flight.

 

[futureb737pilot]

Getting heated and making a scene really doesn’t solve anything. There was too much of that at RPA. I’m sorry for making you feel as though I threw you under the bus. Wasn’t my intention. However I stand by my point that getting heated whether on company email, this forum, and other places, won’t solve anything. Attack this situation as a dispatcher would at work with tactful, level headed thinking. Don’t let yourself get worked up. And honestly I hope the both of us and the others in our situation end up somewhere better than RPA.

 

[A1TAPE]

Getting heated and making a scene really doesn’t solve anything. There was too much of that at RPA. I’m sorry for making you feel as though I threw you under the bus. Wasn’t my intention. However I stand by my point that getting heated whether on company email, this forum, and other places, won’t solve anything. Attack this situation as a dispatcher would at work with tactful, level headed thinking. Don’t let yourself get worked up. And honestly I hope the both of us and the others in our situation end up somewhere better than RPA.

How did it go down at RPA when people heard about the Fs?

 

[paincorp]

Getting heated and making a scene really doesn’t solve anything. There was too much of that at RPA. I’m sorry for making you feel as though I threw you under the bus. Wasn’t my intention. However I stand by my point that getting heated whether on company email, this forum, and other places, won’t solve anything. Attack this situation as a dispatcher would at work with tactful, level headed thinking. Don’t let yourself get worked up. And honestly I hope the both of us and the others in our situation end up somewhere better than RPA.

We definitely had, and they still have, some Panicky Paulas, but we also have plenty (one in particular) of people that didn’t care about if people around them were working, and they just wanted to have fun. Got MANY messages on Skype and Teams from people bitching about that idiot.

There are only a few times I can remember people getting heated at work, and that includes when the Director couldn’t take 5 minutes out of his day to let a trainee know they were suspending training, and a coordinator had to tell him. For the record (for those not aware), the trainee asked the coordinator, and there was no member of management around by the time the trainee had to go home.

I agree, I hope we all end up somewhere better, but was going for more of the sentiment of working (together) again.

[emoji106]

 

[A1TAPE]

We definitely had, and they still have, some Panicky Paulas, but we also have plenty (one in particular) of people that didn’t care about if people around them were working, and they just wanted to have fun. Got MANY messages on Skype and Teams from people bitching about that idiot.

There are only a few times I can remember people getting heated at work, and that includes when the Director couldn’t take 5 minutes out of his day to let a trainee know they were suspending training, and a coordinator had to tell him. For the record (for those not aware), the trainee asked the coordinator, and there was no member of management around by the time the trainee had to go home.

I agree, I hope we all end up somewhere better, but was going for more of the sentiment of working (together) again.

[emoji106]

Pain what were your first impressions of RPA when you started and how have they changed since these recent events?