Dispatcher Pay Spreadsheet

now is the time to get into it. it’s an investment up front, both in the cost to acquire the certificate and the time it takes, and you WILL take a pay cut to build experience at a regional. but there’s light at the end of the tunnel, and that tunnel to a major is much shorter now. some majors are still wanting a year or more of 121 experience, and others will hire you with like 6 months of experience.

united just got a pretty nice raise, and others will follow suit. it seems too good to be true, and this crazy hiring window will shut eventually, so make sure you’re inside before it does.
 
iono said:
now is the time to get into it. it’s an investment up front, both in the cost to acquire the certificate and the time it takes, and you WILL take a pay cut to build experience at a regional.
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I will note that if you have some aviation experience or are local to them, a mid-tier like a startup, LCC, or cargo operator might take you in, and in that case it's not quite as big a paycut. But it still will be a paycut from 60k.

The other main thing is that you will almost certainly have to move, and for some of these regionals (coughRepubliccough) they really seem to like hiring on short timeframes, which makes the move more challenging. Which is also why mid-tiers are more likely to take a chance on you if you're local.
 
I was actually considering applying to the apprenticeship at Republic. Right now I’m only about 2 hours away from there so it wouldn’t be too big of a move.
 
JTR said:
I was actually considering applying to the apprenticeship at Republic. Right now I’m only about 2 hours away from there so it wouldn’t be too big of a move.
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I think that's a very good program and definitely worth applying to, especially if you're local.

Just don't hold back on any opportunities for it. I know someone who was in dispatch school, about to take his practical, they said don't take your practical and go join our apprenticeship and you'll get a job with us that way. Then they cancelled the apprenticeship class.

If you can get into it, do it, but don't put your career on hold for it either. It exists to benefit them, and any benefit you gain from it is secondary to them.
 
Karee said:
Does anyone know what American Airlines’ new agreement looks like? Does it match up to United’s industry-leading scale?
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The full pay yes matches. The starting pay while in training however is still 79% of the full pay. UA and DL now officially start new hires on day 1 of training at $7161 which comes to about $86k a year, however AA still implements the lesser pay. Therefore new hires in training, even after the new TA will still be making $5654 a month, which is $67.8k a year until off of training. Side note, no legacies pay license pay until off training.
Per current dx friends at DL and UA, DLs current training takes 3-4 months from start to comp check depending on if you have 121 experience, UAs takes 5-6 months. AAs is supposed to take 3-6 months depending if you have DECS experience. However due to mass hiring of 150 dxers over the last year, complicated software and burnout from senior dxers, the training has been taking 6-9+ months so far. There are still quite a few from April (heard 10) who have yet to check out. And there is still the entire 60 from September and October who are just beginning desk training. So full pay yes matches. Training pay however is $1505 a month less than UA or DL and $18k less a year than UA and DL and taking about twice as long. So depends how much patience you have and how badly you want to be at AA.
 
The new TA addresses the timeline of Classroom training. It has been shortened by about a month. Hopefully, Hire date to sign off is 5 months now
 
Bobber said:
The new TA addresses the timeline of Classroom training. It has been shortened by about a month. Hopefully, Hire date to sign off is 5 months now
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I think that will depend on how midnight international staffing goes with the requirement for being internationally qualified dropping to 1 year from date of dispatch hire. I suspect that training for new hires will get dragged out close to the year mark so new hires will get international qualifications. Training already signed off dispatchers on international requires pulling them off desks to cover with OT but training new hires still in OJT doesnt result in any OT. But if there are plenty of midnight qualified international then yes training time will drop for new hires with the change in classroom scheduling.
 
Bobber said:
The new TA addresses the timeline of Classroom training. It has been shortened by about a month. Hopefully, Hire date to sign off is 5 months now
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I hope in the future it will be 5 months as well. In our interviews we were told 4-6 months. Class time for us was 3 months, in the future it will be down to 2 months with a weekly 5/2 schedule. So future new hires or commuters… don’t plan any trips the first 2 months. At least it will be over faster.
The desk OJT is what currently takes the additional time. New hires are required to find their own trainers (none are assigned which means you walk around asking people daily), and are often being told no due to senior dxers being burnt out after hiring so many in the last year. If told no for that day, new hires have to do a day of “manuals” to study. On top of that DECS is just it’s own beast to learn. So what should have been 2-3 months of desk OJT for February and April classes has turned into nearly 6+ months of desk OJT before getting comp checked. Now another 60 from September/October are just beginning their OJT. On top of the lack of trainers there is a lack of comp checkers. From what I was told there’s only about 15 in the entire dx department to do the initial 3 day comp check. People are backed up waiting to be scheduled for their comp check about a month or so.
With Flight Keys training being added on top of all of this desk training, then recurrent training twice a year, it could be a long haul for current new hires. I do hope time gets shaved off so new hires can make that full pay sooner matching their new hire PAFCA brothers and sisters at UA and DL (inflations a killer right now), and senior dxers can get lower flight loads and the support they need.

Serious question, I am curious why if AA, DL and UA are all PAFCA, why is AA the only legacy to be getting lower pay for new hires at 79% still? I understand everyone in the past had to do it… but respectfully, times change and progress as UA and DL have shown with their generous pay bumps this year for all teammates, especially new hires. When AA new hires have to jump through so many hoops and take the longest training, and COL, groceries, rents/mortgages shooting sky high, why aren’t we able to get the full pre-license pay as the other two PAFCA legacies do for their new hires now?
 
MountainsOrBeach said:
So depends how much patience you have and how badly you want to be at AA.
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We get it you don’t like AA…

with that being said, AA has a higher hourly pay and more time off than UA/DL along with the bonus License premiums once someone is signed off, people from the first 2 new hire classes will hit 100k and did not get signed off till midyear..

If you like money and willing to work as much as UA/Delta at AA you will easily hit 6 figures even after getting signed off mid year
 
RegionalDXer said:
We get it you don’t like AA…

with that being said, AA has a higher hourly pay and more time off than UA/DL along with the bonus License premiums once someone is signed off, people from the first 2 new hire classes will hit 100k and did not get signed off till midyear..

If you like money and willing to work as much as UA/Delta at AA you will easily hit 6 figures even after getting signed off mid year
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How do they work less then DL’s 4on-4off 10hr shifts?
 
RegionalDXer said:
We get it you don’t like AA…

with that being said, AA has a higher hourly pay and more time off than UA/DL along with the bonus License premiums once someone is signed off, people from the first 2 new hire classes will hit 100k and did not get signed off till midyear..

If you like money and willing to work as much as UA/Delta at AA you will easily hit 6 figures even after getting signed off mid year
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Again, DL and UA both have license and premiums as well. Nothing different there. AA says DL works 1880 hours. If they work 4/4 with 10 hour shifts, that’s 1825. If they work 4/3, 4/4 with 9 hour shifts like AA… then they work 1750 as well.
As I said above, there’s at least 10 people from April who have not comp checked. Therefore they are going on 9 months, they’re not making 100k in a year. No OT for training. We have another AA dxer above being honest (which I greatly appreciate) saying they feel the company will drag out training possibly up to a year for the next 60 to immediately throw those new hires into international training after they check out to avoid OT.
Look you can’t get irritated at someone who was told certain things in their interview, and so far much of it is changing or will not come to fruition. Was told DECS would be gone, but in fact it’ll be here another year. Was told relief lines still have the 4/3, 4/4 but now with the new TA they may be changed all over the place, was told training takes 4-6 months, now it’s up to a year. Not to mention all lines except midnights are a mix of AMs and PMs every other week instead of straight one or the other, have never seen that at any airline before. I am stating facts to people that are asking. She asked about pay, I explained. I would have rather someone been completely honest with how certain things would go. It may have affected my choice. Because yes, I had more than one offer. So instead of sugar coating things and telling people what you think they want to hear, I am telling them how it’s been. They can make a true informed decision on it. I appreciate your feedback but you seem to contradict yourself at times. One post saying it takes 3-4 months to check out, then another saying it’s taking 7+ months. And you seem to like to argue with people quite a bit for stating their views and perceptions. We obviously have different views and that’s fine. Just sharing mine and the other new hires’ personal experience so far.

Something positive: I liked my class instructors, classmates and most desk trainers. Most everyone I have met (so far) has been nice, and the training is very informational.
 
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MountainsOrBeach said:
Something positive: I liked my class instructors, classmates and most desk trainers. Most everyone I have met (so far) has been nice, and the training is very informational.
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I was in the April class. I checked out just before Thanksgiving. I will say that the above is absolutely true. Everyone I've met has been great and treats you like you belong. That's worth a lot in my book.
 
MountainsOrBeach said:
Serious question, I am curious why if AA, DL and UA are all PAFCA, why is AA the only legacy to be getting lower pay for new hires at 79% still? I understand everyone in the past had to do it… but respectfully, times change and progress as UA and DL have shown with their generous pay bumps this year for all teammates, especially new hires. When AA new hires have to jump through so many hoops and take the longest training, and COL, groceries, rents/mortgages shooting sky high, why aren’t we able to get the full pre-license pay as the other two PAFCA legacies do for their new hires now?
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It's great encouragement to get signed off. A 21% raise can be very motivating. There were people in the Feb class that comped out the same time as the April class... I spoke with them and they enjoyed traveling and taking their time. Why reward those people with full pay? It's a way for AA to recoup some costs while training new dispatchers. The same reasons pilots usually make nothing their first year.

The September class will start comp checking at the end of January, we will see if they will "drag it out" as others proposed. I personally believe they want to push out qualified dispatchers so they can JM them and move over junior dispatchers to international land.
 
Bobber said:
It's great encouragement to get signed off. A 21% raise can be very motivating. There were people in the Feb class that comped out the same time as the April class... I spoke with them and they enjoyed traveling and taking their time. Why reward those people with full pay? It's a way for AA to recoup some costs while training new dispatchers. The same reasons pilots usually make nothing their first year.

The September class will start comp checking at the end of January, we will see if they will "drag it out" as others proposed. I personally believe they want to push out qualified dispatchers so they can JM them and move over junior dispatchers to international land.
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The problem is that due to the current situation of burnt out dxers, lack of comp checkers, and 70 trainees on the floor at once, people who want to check out as soon as possible will end up having their training dragged out much longer than the norm. Motivation and encouragement are pretty meaningless when it’s out of their control.
 
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