Do the majors look down on 121 Supplemental work experience?

SteamgaugeSweetie said:
Listen if you have experience working for a Supplemental on heavies they ought to have a healthy respect for your experience. The majors all have fancy computer programs to do most of the work which the supplement's cannot afford. So you will have to know and do stuff that no one at a major would even have to think about knowing or doing. I worked for a couple of supplemental's in my career and got do to some really cool stuff I couldn't at a major.
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It's not just the heavy experience; there's the international experience too.
 
SteamgaugeSweetie said:
I honestly don't know. I am retired and out of the industry. Perhaps if you Google DX schools you can get a range (keep in mind they have a vested interest in recruiting you as a student). Or try www.glassdoor.com
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I graduated Sheffield May of 2017; it was one of the most challenging and rewarding things I ever did. After I passed my O&P, I cried! I'll keep my DX certificate as long as I live.

After Sheffield, I worked at a regional for a few months. Unfortunately, the job wasn't a good fit for me; though I like aviation (got my comm/inst), DX wasn't a good fit for me. Had I not been shown the door, I was planning on leaving on my own a few weeks later. Anyway, I'm out of the industry too. Though I'll always love airplanes, I don't see myself working in aviation again, either.

Anyway, I was curious about the supplementals, because I interviewed with a couple of them. I could have seen myself doing that...
 
A-9er said:
What's the pay range then? Also, what are the duties of a FF @ a supp like compared to those of a DXer at a regional?
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Really depends on the carrier. The term supplemental can define anything from a shop with a single aircraft to a cargo airline like Atlas (partially supplemental), Polar, Kalitta, and ATI/ABX. Accordingly, starting pay can range anywhere from regional pay to upwards of $60k. I'm unfamiliar with the exact workload and duties of flight followers at small supplementals, but flight followers at the aforementioned carriers do the exact same thing as domestic/flag dispatchers. The only difference is that the DO is the responsible party (not the individual flight followers) and there are a few differences in the captain/flight follower relationship.
 
4EngineETOPS said:
Really depends on the carrier. The term supplemental can define anything from a shop with a single aircraft to a cargo airline like Atlas (partially supplemental), Polar, Kalitta, and ATI/ABX. Accordingly, starting pay can range anywhere from regional pay to upwards of $60k. I'm unfamiliar with the exact workload and duties of flight followers at small supplementals, but flight followers at the aforementioned carriers do the exact same thing as domestic/flag dispatchers. The only difference is that the DO is the responsible party (not the individual flight followers) and there are a few differences in the captain/flight follower relationship.
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Thanks for the good response! Now, I have another question: how does that compare to what a regional DXer does? That's my only frame of reference. I guess what I'm asking is working a supplemental (one of the bigger ones) like working at a regional? Are you busting out 40+ flights a shift? How long are the shifts?
 
A-9er said:
Thanks for the good response! Now, I have another question: how does that compare to what a regional DXer does? That's my only frame of reference. I guess what I'm asking is working a supplemental (one of the bigger ones) like working at a regional? Are you busting out 40+ flights a shift? How long are the shifts?
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Of the ones mentioned, would think the DHL/Amazon ops are going to be about the same. Obviously with some equipment differences. ABX/ATI is 15-20 per ten hour shift. The scheduled DHL/Amazon stuff is pretty straight forward. The other flights are all over the place: ETOPS flights without ACARS/Sat Phone, getting planes off the ground out of places like Bogota and Guatamala City at max takeoff weight. One desk can have CONUS, ETOPS, and Central America flights.
 
fuelfool said:
Of the ones mentioned, would think the DHL/Amazon ops are going to be about the same. Obviously with some equipment differences. ABX/ATI is 15-20 per ten hour shift. The scheduled DHL/Amazon stuff is pretty straight forward. The other flights are all over the place: ETOPS flights without ACARS/Sat Phone, getting planes off the ground out of places like Bogota and Guatamala City at max takeoff weight. One desk can have CONUS, ETOPS, and Central America flights.
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FF, when the flights don't have ACARS or sat phone, do you have HF available?
 
I'm not saying yes, I'm not saying no, because at the end of the day, at least here in WNderland, we like to consider the person behind the experience...

That being said, I got in here at a unique time where my ETOPS experience gleaned from my time at a supplemental helped me more than a little bit in getting an interview here. YMMV
 
Just to be clear. ATLAS, POLAR, SOUTHERN. Do not have Flight Followers, they are all 121 dispatchers with CASS access. Pay is roughly 60G to 120G over a 15Year pay scale. They all do supplemental flights especially Atlas but are primarily doing FLAG flights. Supplemental flights are not planned any differently than flag flights other than noting a remark in the flight plan, be because the airport is not listed in C070. FYI all the majors also do supplemental flights but it does not change the way the flight it is dispatched.
 
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