You have GOT to be kidding me....

[shooter]

All right, all right, all right. Time to get your blood pressure to rise and vent at the corporate greed at hand. Just take a look at our wonderful "high demand" job. Look and see what they have to say and let me hear what your thoughts are.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/business/2008/01/13/ddn011308dispatchers.html

Starting salaries can be $20,000 to $25,000 annually,

Oh please please please can I? Can I pay a large sum of money to learn a skilled trade that accepts joint responsibility with the captain of an aircraft and thats what you will pay me? Can I accept all that and you will pay less than what the unskilled worker at Costco makes by a full $2 per hour? Or the ape dockworker that gets paid TWICE that amount? Well where do I sign up? I am here to tell you people that the pay scales have gone DOWN since I was first starting in this line of work and the costs of living have gone up. It was an unlivable wage when I first began and it has become down right insulting since. How and why do people do it? There is NO FREAKIN’ WAY I would start with that kind of pay these days. You can't unless you are living with your parents. And you need to be 23 years old to get a Dispatch ticket. Who the heck would live at home at 23 unless you were still in school and working on a post grad degree? Like I said, you can go to Costco and get a better wage. Retail is now a better profession than the aviation industry.

Sinclair student Ashanti Taltoan, 29, of Miami Twp., hired on last summer as a PSA Airlines dispatcher. Late in the year, he switched to a dispatcher's job at a higher salary (he declined to reveal it) with NetJets Aviation Inc., a private aviation company in Columbus.

Let’s see here, he hired on in summer. That would give him half a year-end Dec and HE LEFT BEFORE THAT! Did he even get out of training to learn the system before he left? You freakin’ dim witted airline management jerks: Pay a decent wage and you will get and retain quality people.

Freakin’ stupid!

 

[crjdxr]

Ugh.

Supply and demand. So long as there are people who are willing to do the work for that wage, there is no incentive for the companies to increase that wage.

Pilots at the regional level run into the same basic issue. So long as there are ERAU grads that will fly the nice new CRJ for $XX/hr, there is very little incentive for the company to raise the starting wage.

Comair recently dropped the hiring mins for pilots, and added a signing bonus. The company has also had a standing "refer a friend and get $XXX after six months" plan.

From what I can tell, the hiring mins for ADX'ers at the regional level are;

1. pulse
2. breathing
3. certificate
(in that order)

 

[shooter]

If true supply and demand were at hand here, we should see an increase in the pay scales as airlines compete against each other for the talent in the pool. At least thats how that article makes it sound that there is a shortage right now. Lets hope, eh?

 

[dispatchguy]

I have always thought we should get paid a percentage of the captain's pay.

What percentage, I have no idea

 

[WalterSobchak]

I have always thought we should get paid a percentage of the captain's pay.

What percentage, I have no idea

Hell, 55-60% of captain pay...with higher standards for actually keeping the job...would be excellent in comparison to what we are all making now. Of course, then you'd have to re-work the FO payscales or you'd have a mutiny on your hands.

 

[dispatchguy]

Of course, then you'd have to re-work the FO payscales or you'd have a mutiny on your hands.

No I wouldnt, for they arent part of the Joint Operational Control responsibility relationship.

It is CAP = Dispatcher.

They want a raise, either garner more seniority in their seat, transition to a bigger airplane, or upgrade, simple as that.

 

[RVSM]

Just for info purposes.
SWA DX used to be 75% and had a "me too" clause in their CBA. This was many moons ago.

 

[airbrush]

Preaching to the choir

Not only have the salaries gone down relative to the cost of living, but why do the airlines find it necessary to locate their dispatch offices almost exclusively in high cost of living areas? I understand not everyone wants to live in the boonies like me, but people could almost live on the wages if they didn't have to contend with the high rents or high real estate prices/property taxes of living in DC or NYC, or the time/cost of commuting from an affordable location.
I recently checked into an ad trying to fill slots at Compass dispatch...pay was $15-$19/hr, which could work in some areas, but they are located in Chantilly, VA! The recruiter said they are "having a very hard time getting GOOD, EXPERIENCED PEOPLE." No freakin' crap! It's that way with just about every carrier I've checked into. I swear there is a complete disconnect between management and the reality of life anymore. I've got tons of experience, but the best I can get out of the carriers I've spoken to, despite their claims of being "desperate, in a crisis", is about $1.50/ hr above the bottom of the already pathetic pay scale.
Unfortunately, as long as other costs remain high, I don't see much improvement in the near future. I can't understand why these airlines are willing to turn over such a vital job, one that can have such a huge impact on the safety, legality, efficiency, and the quality of the customer experience, to the least experienced people they can find.

 

[Galaxy]

I really feel for the dispatchers and how they are being flat out used and abused by mgt. I had a few friends that went into dispatching and one left for double the pay being a mgr at Wendy's and the other took a job with an insurance company for almost double. Go figure-huh? Dispatchers are a necessary evil to airline mgt. You take a share of the responsibility for fractions of the pay. Most people vote with their feet and leave for better jobs-not necessarily in aviation. When they have serious staffing issues then and only then will the attitude change. The same is for pilots-they are having difficulty finding folks to spend HUGE money on education and ratings only to get the pay of a high school graduate. All the bright eyed kids hanging at airports asking me what to do to become a pro pilot. I see I tell them to go to dental school and fly for fun when they have the money or become and engineer and start at 50-60K and invest less than 1/3 of the training expenses than a pilot would.

 

[TheRaven]

It is CAP = Dispatcher.

Uhh, until your office is the target of terrorists, or can blow up over long island sound like TWA800, or can run have a total loss of flight control like UAL232, I can't see how a Dispatcher=a Captain.

For preflight planning and preparation, your responsibilities are the same, but once the door closes it's the CA with the multi-million dollar machine and the hundred lives in his/her hands....you assist in that process, but the CA gets the ultimate responsibility. If the CA messes up, they may pay with his/her life, while you will be going home either way at the end of your shift.

Not trying to belittle you, but the fact of the matter is that it takes a lot more than a 3 week course to be a Captain or First Officer, and for you to write CAP=Dispatcher in regards to pay kind of belittles us.