Commuting as a Dispatcher

avi80r

avi80r

New Member
I have been reading the forums for a while now, but I am brand new to posting here. To make a long story short, I joined the dispatch world back in August working for RIA. Since they have closed, I have been unsure where I want to go next, unsure if I want to move out of state, etc. Born and raised in small town, Illinois, my family and lifelong friends are extremely important to me, which makes this decision difficult. While I am also on the super long wait list to become a controller, I really miss dispatch. I have been tossing alot of ideas around and one is commuting or, more likely, just flying home once or twice a month. So my question is, is it common for dispatchers to commute? Is it hard to commute as a dispatcher, especially when you are new and going through training? Do commuters often get crash pads to share with other dispatchers and/or pilots? What towns are common to find crash pads with other dispatchers? (I am thinking ATL or FLL) Is this really a realistic lifestyle? In all honesty, I would not be commuting EVERY time I get days off, just 1 to 2 times a month, so a crash pad is probably not accommodating for this. If you have any experience with this or have friends that do this, please let me know!
 
It's definitely possible, but can be difficult on a beginning dispatcher salary. I used to visit home once or twice a month quite a bit when I was at a regional, but as I was visiting my parents I didn't have any expenses involved as far as rent or rental cars when I did that. I would say it is not common to commute as a dispatcher, but I do work with people who do it. I know nothing about crash pads, or if crash pads specifically for dispatchers exist. I would agree that if you're only going home once or twice a month, a crash pad type environment isn't feasible and you would be better off renting a traditional apartment (perhaps with a roomate.) It's easiest if you can commute on your own airline but I used to jumpseat on WN all the time when I lived in Las Vegas working for somebody else and I rarely had issues. I would make sure that whatever potential employer you are looking at has CASS and their dispatchers are included in it, that makes it possible to ride in the cockpit on other airlines if the flight is full. If your potential employer tries telling you, "No, we don't, dispatchers are not authorized for CASS" I would seek a different employer because they are trying to sell you a line of BS.
 
I'd say that about 1/4 of thie dispatchers in my company commute (myself included). Since we're in NYC there are plenty of crash pads and you don't need a car up here. But I've also gotten to the point where I no longer want to commute and am tired of it.

Crash pad living sucks although, some pads that are great are the ones with the least amount of people. I was in a crash pad with 17 commuters, but I only did for for about six months before I got a place with a roommate.

Manniax summed it up very well, always make sure the airline is in CASS. I regularly take another airline over my own and they're more than welcoming.
 
Thank you for the info and advice. While possible, commuting is clearly not ideal (espeically for MT)! And Rogo-17 people sharing a crash pad?! That is insane! Although I have only worked for one airline, I would hope airlines would allow their dispatchers to be in CASS. Why would an airline deny a dispatcher CASS privledges?

Speaking of CASS, I had an interesting conversation with a former classmate yesterday. He was recently hired with a regional airline and I asked him if he would be in CASS after he was done with training and his comp check. He said he is in CASS right away, assuming he can provide a passport. In my experiences, I could not be in CASS until I passed my comp check. What are your experiences with this?
 
I lived the nightmare for a year and only because my wife was finishing college and would be joining me after that year. I stayed in some very shady places in my work city as that's all I could afford with having to pay rent in two places. This ranged from an apartment in the most dangerous part of town to a Pilot/Flight Attendant crash pad with 15 people. At least I didn't have to hotbunk!

I double commuted and had a 3 hour layover at the hub each way. I cherished the 2.5 days I had at home with my wife each week, but the burden of commuting back in time for work always loomed over my head. I played it a touch risky and commuted in day of, but if I didn't that 2.5 days home really tuned into about 1 day at home.

CASS sure is great to have in your back pocket, but since it was nothing but CRJ2 from the hub to the office, many times I found myself going 2 hours west in order to come back east since they never seemed to be able to take a jumpseater.

Day off 1: commute home at 0 dark thirty. Get home after 6 hours, nap for 4 worthless rest of night.
Day off 2: Enjoy life at home for 24 hours
Day off 3: Start dreading commuting back and be ready to potentially head to airport on short notice if tomorrow looks bad all of a sudden
Work day 1: commute in at 0 dark thirty,fly backwards to go forwards, try to catch a few winks in the 6 hours of flight and airport sit time. Arrive at work location 2 hours early, try to nap, dispatch airplanes safely for 10 hours. Sleep for 12 hours after dodging bullets walking to seedy apartment.

Moral of the story, Pilots and Flight Attendants can commute since they usually have a nice stretch of days off in a row. When they're "at" work, the company is buying them a hotel every night. Most of all, most airlines have a commuter clause for their pilots, that is, if they don't make their flight it's ok provided they prove they tried to make it to work. Not so much for us, you get bumped, you get fired.

As far as CASS enrollment, it really depends on the airline. Mine waits until you are ready for your familiarization flights. I have heard of plenty that put you in right away though.
 
avi80r said:
Although I have only worked for one airline, I would hope airlines would allow their dispatchers to be in CASS. Why would an airline deny a dispatcher CASS privledges?

Speaking of CASS, I had an interesting conversation with a former classmate yesterday. He was recently hired with a regional airline and I asked him if he would be in CASS after he was done with training and his comp check. He said he is in CASS right away, assuming he can provide a passport. In my experiences, I could not be in CASS until I passed my comp check. What are your experiences with this?
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At my current airline we were enrolled in CASS right away, before being signed off. At my last airline there seemed to be a great reluctance to get dispatchers into CASS (it was a regional.) I think they did but not until after I left. There was a mentality there that it was for pilots only.
 
Like anything in life there is a cost associated it with it. That cost can come in many forms time/money/safety or what ever one values. The question becomes is the cost worth the expense? Only you can answer that as each person circumstances.
 
You can commute on any job while working for an airline. It just depends on how flexible your schedule is and how big your department is. I commuted for a year on the ramp. BWI was the only place hiring for Southwest when I was trying to get on. I was living near BDL at the time and knew I could get a transfer eventually. I took the job in BWI. So after training, I would work 2 doubles, 1 single, then fly home for 4 days. I rented a room in BWI with a few guys from work, and shared an apartment with a friend up in BDL. All on 8.75/hr. With jumpseating and a higher wage, it should be even easier for a dispatcher I would think.
 
r311music said:
You can commute on any job while working for an airline. It just depends on how flexible your schedule is and how big your department is. I commuted for a year on the ramp. BWI was the only place hiring for Southwest when I was trying to get on. I was living near BDL at the time and knew I could get a transfer eventually. I took the job in BWI. So after training, I would work 2 doubles, 1 single, then fly home for 4 days. I rented a room in BWI with a few guys from work, and shared an apartment with a friend up in BDL. All on 8.75/hr. With jumpseating and a higher wage, it should be even easier for a dispatcher I would think.
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Well, one thing that isn't possible as a dispatcher - working doubles. You can do quick turns to get out early if you find someone willing to trade shifts with you, but you can't work 16 hours in a row.
 
manniax said:
Well, one thing that isn't possible as a dispatcher - working doubles. You can do quick turns to get out early if you find someone willing to trade shifts with you, but you can't work 16 hours in a row.
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Good point. I'd never want to work a double sitting at a desk anyways haha. I'm hoping wherever I end up is a place that does the 4 on, 3 off 10 hour shifts. Seems fairly common in the DX world.
 
I've thought off and on about commuting, which given my current travel pattern really only entails one extra round trip a week from my current schedule. I agree that spending time with friends and family back in the home town is a strong lure. And for the most part, most my friends are in the industry, so we have a decent schedule for car swaps at the airport, I can use mass transit in my home of choice to get around.

I'm also not on a starting salary at a regional so that helps. The last few years I've had a pretty decent schedule to allow for going "home". I have two or three coworkers that's are doing the commute, with varying degrees of success. For me it's a short 1+20 blocked flight 10 times a day on mainline jets between two carriers. If it was a situation where there's one or two RJ's a day I'd be more cautious.

As stated above, depends on your priorities and how much you want to be back.
 
manniax said:
Well, one thing that isn't possible as a dispatcher - working doubles. You can do quick turns to get out early if you find someone willing to trade shifts with you, but you can't work 16 hours in a row.
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Manniax is that company policy or FAR's? My company doesn't allow us as MX controllers to work doubles but it is not against FAR's for us to work those hours
 
FXMXC said:
Manniax is that company policy or FAR's? My company doesn't allow us as MX controllers to work doubles but it is not against FAR's for us to work those hours
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It's an FAR - you can't be scheduled as a dispatcher to work more than 10 hours. Now, you can end up working more than 10 hours due to unforseen events (flights running late, etc.) but you can't be scheduled to do so. So, by working a double you would be "scheduling" yourself to work over 10 hours straight - thus the FAR violation. Here is a link to the FAR that addresses this:

http://www.risingup.com/fars/info/part121-465-FAR.shtml
 
As a dedicated commuting dispatcher, I will weigh in.

I have two children from my first marriage. It was a very amical divorce, and my ex and I share joint physical/joint legal custody with neither of us paying child support. The downside to this kind of arrangement, is that neither of us can just pick up and move...no matter what the reason. In order for me to move for my job, it would entail suing my ex husband, with whom I still have a very stable, civil, and friendly relationship, for full custody of our children. Its something I wont put him through and I certainly wont put our children through. So moving is not an option. Unfortunately, I am very limited in my options in my home town so commuting is the only viable way to build my career.

I started the whole commuting dog and pony show when I was still a flight attendant. I honed my skills back in the days before I was able to take a cockpit jumpseat on just about every domestic carrier, so I had the chops when I started commuting for DX. My first DX job was a 9E in MEM. Unfortunately, there are VERY few options between STL-MEM, unless you want to go through one (or more!) other cities. My solution? I drove. 300 miles down there, 300 miles back, 5 hours, give or take a chicken truck, and I did it every week for a year. My poor car cowered in terror...as did my paycheck as the gas prices creeped up.

My job now allows for a MUCH flexible commute. My company alone operates 3 flights per day, with two extra FA jumps in addition to the flight deck jump. I also have direct options on Southwest. And if I can get to MDW, we operate a flight almost every hour from there. Much easier, much less stressful, and much less abusive on the pocketbook.

Ive gotten VERY creative with my commutes...but, like I said, I learned to commute at a time when there were zero jumpseating options for me.

I can offer this advice:
* Before accepting a job, find out what your flight benefits are, either through non-rev and/or jumpseating. Do some research to determine who your company has reciprocal agreements with. Find out what your most direct options are, either on your own airline or by jumping on another airline.

* Find out what kind of shifts your company runs by talking to other DXers for the company, if you can. The shift you bid, will ultimately determine the commutability. I purposely bid a graveyard shift because, for me, its the most commutable. I dont report until 6 pm...giving me all day to get in. And I release at 4 am, leaving me free to jump on the very first flight available home. I also have the advantage that no one likes the graveyard shift so I usually get the days off that I want.

* I DO NOT reccommend trying to stay in a typical crew crash pad. First of all, many will often double, or even triple the rent because "you're there so much." (I ran into this problem when I first started looking) Second, you ARE there, alot more than a pilot will be. You dont want people coming and going at all times of the day and night when you are on a regular schedule. It WILL drive you bat-feces crazy. If you are a female, you WILL find that your only option is FA crash pads. No offense to FA's, but you DO NOT want to deal with the drama and cattiness of an FA crashpad (I have LOTS of experience) And unfortunately, Pilot pads, which tend to be more laid back and mellow, are generally "dudes only."
You're best bet is to find someone in your company who needs extra cash and has a room they arent using. They are out there. I pay $300 per month, utilities included, for a lovely room in a nice house, my own bathroom, driveway parking, and its just me and my roommate...a divorcee who didnt mind an extra $300 per month to pay bills. We also both work the night shift so we understand the need for quiet during the day. I DO NOT reccommend renting a room from someone non-aviation...the times Ive done this, it NEVER ended well.
* You WILL need your own car. Even if its just a beater that looks like a homeless person has been living in it. Unlike our crew brethren, we are back at our pad every night. We need real groceries, we need toilet paper, light bulbs, stockings, socks, advil, wine, hair dye, laundry detergent, hair cuts, razors, shampoo, soap, toothbrushes, food for the office potluck, etc ALOT more often than someone who might only spend 4 nights here a month. Trust me...my car broke down for a month and the bus didnt start running for 4 hours AFTER my shift ended.... it gets old REALLY fast.

*If you have a family, you need a VERY good support system at home. A spouse that is patient, flexivle, and understanding, arrangements for childcare, etc. If you have children, you'll need to be prepared for the "Absentee Parent Syndrome."....If you have been going for a year solid: Airport-work-crashpad-work-crashpad-work-crashpad-work-airport-home; and you decide to take a weekend to do something that doesnt involve your children, be prepared for hard criticism. "Dont you WANT to spend time with your kids? What a bad parent you are for wanting to do something without your kids when you're gone SOOOOOO much!" It sucks. I have a slight advantage in that my ex and I already had a custody arrangement that was basically week-on/week-off to begin with. I have to keep constant communication... if I need an extra day to pick up overtime, I run it by him first and he keeps the kids an extra day. I, in turn, will trade days or use vacation time if he needs an extra day or particular night off.... but I still catch alot of grief, if I want to put the kids to bed on a friday night and leave them with a sitter so I can go out.

* Find out if your company offers any kind of "commuter clause."....a policy that will cover your butt if you arent able to make it in, as long as certain conditions are met. Some offer it for dispatchers....others do not.

Commuting as a dispatcher can and DOES work but you need lots of support and you HAVE to be vigilant. If the TAF is calling for bad WX, you MUST have a plan B in place before you get to the airport. You have have to keep on top things such as runway constructions, atc programs, wx, etc.(This whole sequester nightmare was a good example) and be prepared to have to drop everything and leave on an earlier flight than you anticipated.

Feel free to PM me, if you want to chat.

Good luck.
 
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