Delta

A coworker and I talked about getting a part-time job years ago with DAL while dispatching for our Regional. We were shot down by both parties fast. It's a conflict of interest which we knew was written out in the Employee Handbook. We figured that would be an exception because we are a partner for DL. Good luck if you try it.
 
My recommendation, as it always has, is if you want to dispatch, get a dispatch job. Trying to "position" yourself to become an internal candidate screws you more often then not because you are not getting experience and you have now railroaded yourself from applying at other places. Delta is a good target to shoot for but you need to decide if you want to work for Delta or if you want to be a dispatcher. The chances are less the great that you will ultimately do both.
 
PHL_Approach said:
A coworker and I talked about getting a part-time job years ago with DAL while dispatching for our Regional. We were shot down by both parties fast. It's a conflict of interest which we knew was written out in the Employee Handbook. We figured that would be an exception because we are a partner for DL. Good luck if you try it.
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This always makes me laugh. Here is why. I used to work for a regional airline as a ticket/gate agent for United in NY. At the end of our contract they got rid of the company I was working for to, wait for it ... DGS ( a Delta owned company ). Also DGS already had a presence at that airport so now not only are the employees working at DGS for Delta now they had to get crossed trainer to work on United systems.Any new hires would also have to get cross trained on each system as well. Now how is that not conflict of interest? You are now using your competitors to run your outstation? So how is that any different then an employee working for two different companies. I just find that to be hilarious and such a double standard.
 
Thanks for the replies. Ok so might not happen, but I definitely want to be a dispatcher and definitely want to end up at a major so that I can stop living paycheck to paycheck one day, although I am grateful to even have a pay check at all. Do the other major air carriers pay close to what Delta pays? Also, do they hire internal just as much? Or is it more likely to make it at one of the other ones? Sorry for all the questions. I just like to have a plan or goal, even if it doesn't quite turn out how I want it, it gives me something to work towards.
 
nyk said:
This always makes me laugh. Here is why. I used to work for a regional airline as a ticket/gate agent for United in NY. At the end of our contract they got rid of the company I was working for to, wait for it ... DGS ( a Delta owned company ). Also DGS already had a presence at that airport so now not only are the employees working at DGS for Delta now they had to get crossed trainer to work on United systems.Any new hires would also have to get cross trained on each system as well. Now how is that not conflict of interest? You are now using your competitors to run your outstation? So how is that any different then an employee working for two different companies. I just find that to be hilarious and such a double standard.
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Money Talks. You want the bid, cheaper is better in their eyes.
 
That I know but my point was not the fact of money but having your competition run one of your stations. How is that different from someone wanting to work for two different airlines? How is it not conflict of interest to one but is to the other ?
 
nyk said:
That I know but my point was not the fact of money but having your competition run one of your stations. How is that different from someone wanting to work for two different airlines? How is it not conflict of interest to one but is to the other ?
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It's all about the company. It saves them money so they don't mind that. While you working for 2 airlines doesn't save them money and there is the possibility of you passing along insider info to your other airline.
 
Understandable they want to save money. Seriously!? What possible insider info can a gate/ticket or ramp agent pass along to a competitor? Its just asinine. I was a gate/ticket agent and I worked beside other agents within the airport from different airlines. What possible info could I get to harm the airline? I can answer that for you, nothing. This is why I find this to just be outrageous.
 
CF34-3B1 said:
Thanks for the replies. Ok so might not happen, but I definitely want to be a dispatcher and definitely want to end up at a major so that I can stop living paycheck to paycheck one day, although I am grateful to even have a pay check at all. Do the other major air carriers pay close to what Delta pays? Also, do they hire internal just as much? Or is it more likely to make it at one of the other ones? Sorry for all the questions. I just like to have a plan or goal, even if it doesn't quite turn out how I want it, it gives me something to work towards.
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It appears your thread has been hijacked. I think the key to a successful career in dispatch is to keep an open mind about where you want to end up. Hiring at majors is cyclical with periods of frenzy like now and periods of lull like a couple of years ago. The absolute best advice I can give is to get on with someone, start your career and NETWORK NETWORK NETWORK. Solid work ethic and a positive attitude will take you a very long way. Things might not quite work on the timeline you envisioned, but opportunity will come.
 
nyk said:
Understandable they want to save money. Seriously!? What possible insider info can a gate/ticket or ramp agent pass along to a competitor? Its just asinine. I was a gate/ticket agent and I worked beside other agents within the airport from different airlines. What possible info could I get to harm the airline? I can answer that for you, nothing. This is why I find this to just be outrageous.
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While I can't comment on insider trading I have herad of rampers getting canned for working for one handler and going to toss bags for another while on shift for the first handler or needed there for a flight.

As far as handlers with multiple contracts at a station, many are 3rd party or 3rd party-esque, even if they have ties to an airline. The pay and bennies are not there and alot of the staff is high turnover and there doesn't appear to be alot of loyalty on either the airline or handlers part, just the bottom line, as mentioned above.
 
I'll contribute some thoughts here:

I used to throw bags for Delta. Working internally in a low-level jobs is not as impressive to Delta as many dispatchers regional airlines seem to think it is. You get paid 12/hr and are capped at 1300 hours per year (25 per week avg), so that the company can avoid giving you health insurance and other benefits. Some of my current co-workers acted like I was stupid for leaving to dispatch at a regional, because I "had my foot in the door." The only thing I had was a wage unsuitable for living. I went through one round of hiring, with my dispatch license in one hand, college degree in the other, and some contacts in the dispatch department to put in a good word. Didn't hear anything. Was told by a supervisor that they pretty much demand management experience when hiring internally. Which meant I would need to work there for another 6-7 years at least. At that point I decided, with the support of important Delta people that I trust and respect, that, being only 25 years old with plenty of life ahead of me, it would be better for me to go somewhere else and start dispatching, to begin building a resume of experience in the trade and see where it takes me, rather than play Delta's game, which even internals are not guaranteed to win.

Found out later that a 17-year employee of the company who worked his way from customer service at LaGarbage to Crew Scheduling in the OCC didn't get the job during that round either.

I just think some people who have never worked for the company are led by the myth that simply being an internal employee there is a guarantee for getting an interview. Yeah, maybe if you quit your dispatch job to throw bags for half of the pay you already think is low, they might pick you up on prior experience. Its not a risk I would take. Your best bet, in my opinion, is to apply for non-dispatch jobs in corporate, most of which will be awarded to candidates with PhD's and MBAs. That's the kind of "foot-in-the-door" that will get their attention.

I'm not bitter about not being considered. I loved the people there and I do miss some aspects of working in the ground operation. It just didn't seem like the kind of path I wanted to spend years on, considering it may never really work out. Perhaps there are some Delta dispatchers on here who may provide a different perspective, but this is the impression left on me by the company at the time I left.
 
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Along with kilo, I am a former Delta mainline employee who left the company to work as a dispatcher for a regional. I was in a fairly low level position in TechOps (see my avatar...I did that) and got my license while working full time making decent money. I couldve stayed, Id be making better money if I did, but I left to being my dispatch career. Hardest decision I ever had to make, but after taking to Delta dispatchers and a Delta OCC sector manager whom I grew up across the street from, they all agreed that leaving Delta and getting real dispatch experience was the best option, rather then playing the internal game.

I am happy I made the decision. I miss mainline pay, but I enjoy what I do and am excited to move up and on, maybe with Delta, maybe with another major. Im still at my regional, and plan to be for awhile still. Im ok with that, Id rather be getting good experience as a dispatcher, then hoping I get a shot at there internal program all the while forgetting everything I learned in school. Another manager from Delta's OCC sat with me at my desk the other day to talk about our operation at a specific airport, we got to talking and I basically told her where I came from and where I want to go. She agreed strongly that I made the right decision to leave Delta to start dispatching...even left her card with me and invited me to visit the OCC anytime...which I plan to.
 
LX Sport and Kilo.....great posts !!!

Both are my current situation. Been with the same major for 14 years now. I am an all pro baggage handler. While working in Airport Ops is nice in a hub....none of it translates even remotely close to practical dispatching. I can probably identify the hell out of the external 737-800 systems ! Got my DX ticket in early February and deathly afraid I am losing all that info I learned. Aside from that....I got to thinking of all the dispatch experience I am missing in trying to hope for an internal spot that is in no way promised or owed to me IMO, or falling behind in trying to do the 'position' game as you mentioned pljenkins.

Funny how all this was posted as my wife and I were discussing this just the last two days.

Now that I got that ice cold bucket of water thrown on my face..time to take whatever and go with it.

In my case I was holding out hope of getting a position that would put me in pole position that would launch me to a DX position at a Major - my current one being first of course - faster than a 57 departing SNA.

All the while missing all the experience to be gained out there.
 
Sometimes I just think of the hard work and time I've put in so far. There is no early out available. That can be very scary. I just 38 in February. So I start to l think of my age.

So many things,but you know you need to get that experience.

LX Sport reading your post was like reading my own thoughts ad situation.

So glad to know everything is working out positively for you. Gives me hope to see that others have faced similiar decisions.....and that it's not the end of days LOL

Likewise Kilo.
 
I don't know what I think on this anymore. When I got interested in dispatching majors were flat out not hiring. I visited many dispatch offices and talked to managers and dispatchers at the major I worked for all with the same response. You will have to go get experience. So I did. Let's fast forward 6 years. I'm at a different major because I gave up on my former carrier after 5 rounds of hiring without so much as a thanks but go f yourself email and 100 dispatchers hired with a quarter of my experience, including internals with 0.So to say I'm a little bitter about the leave to get experience camp would be true.

A former student of mine was faced with the same decision. Leave your mainline job and dispatch, or stay with your mainline job and try the internal route. My advice was if you want to dispatch then dispatch but you will throw everything away to do so and advised him of the risks. With my advice he chose the regionals.

A few weeks later one of my final students with a newly minted dispatch license was invited to interview at the major the former student left as an internal candidate. I felt terrible since I steered this student in the wrong direction and have regretted that advice ever since.
 
MT said:
I don't know what I think on this anymore. When I got interested in dispatching majors were flat out not hiring. I visited many dispatch offices and talked to managers and dispatchers at the major I worked for all with the same response. You will have to go get experience. So I did. Let's fast forward 6 years. I'm at a different major because I gave up on my former carrier after 5 rounds of hiring without so much as a thanks but go f yourself email and 100 dispatchers hired with a quarter of my experience, including internals with 0.So to say I'm a little bitter about the leave to get experience camp would be true.

A former student of mine was faced with the same decision. Leave your mainline job and dispatch, or stay with your mainline job and try the internal route. My advice was if you want to dispatch then dispatch but you will throw everything away to do so and advised him of the risks. With my advice he chose the regionals.

A few weeks later one of my final students with a newly minted dispatch license was invited to interview at the major the former student left as an internal candidate. I felt terrible since I steered this student in the wrong direction and have regretted that advice ever since.
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Well put MT. It's nice to see the flip side of why one may think to stay.

In reading not only this particular thread,but others it almost seems like it can be a cap shoot.

Either way an individual chooses, it can be tough.

MT....you gave your honest advise with the best of intentions. I imagine that can be tough to think about,but you were simply advising what you thought would be in their best interest.
 
There just is no way to know how it's going to work out. Hiring isn't predicted on dispatch experience alone. Don't think you are "throwing away" the last 18 years is your life making a career change at 38. All that experience counts. Yeah, it's not dispatching, but how has it made you a better more equipped person. Dispatching is a lot of things but above all, it's a job. Employers want to know that in addition to your skills relevant to the task at hand, you are also going to be a good employee in the workplace. A decade+ of working at one spot is certainly an arguable point for that!

I'm 42, I've changed careers 3 times before I got here. Don't think for a minute that was my plan when I graduated school! Life hands you chicken sh*t, you make chicken salad.
 
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