Narrative:

This report concerns multiple flights. In all four instances; I was filed on a route of flight that went through significantly strong thunderstorms; and in all four cases; I was given no contingency fuel to deal with said storms. On the first flight; I looked at the radar and saw our entire route went through the line of storms. I acarsed our dispatcher asking if they could look into a new route to the east of our planned route to keep us out of the weather. The response I got was a bit annoying. I was told that the dispatcher would not look into it; that they had been doing their job a long time and knew that we wouldn't get any new route; and that we would just have to deal with it. I took it upon myself to contact ATC and get a new route; to which they were happy to oblige. I acarsed my dispatcher as such and had them run a new release. I am surprised that was even done for me; as it seems no support was being offered.on a flight the next day; our filed route would not work as weather had moved across our entire route. Again; we were given no contingency fuel; nor were we given any canned dispatch routes (cdrs) for a different route (I thought we had cdr's now?). ATC asked if we had cdr's and if we had [a specific] route. I replied in the negative; so we received a full route clearance (all along [the route] with an altitude of 6;000 feet). It was like pulling teeth to get new fuel numbers from the dispatcher.on the next flight again; there were significant storms along our route of flight. I asked the dispatcher for a new route; and was again refused. We asked ATC for a new route; which they were happy to provide. At least in this case; the dispatcher gave us enough extra fuel for the route we were given.finally; on the last event; we were filed through a line of weather with no real extra fuel. I decided; in the interest of time; to ask ATC for a new route that would take us south of the weather. They gave us the new route; and sent it to dispatch to run a new release. In all of these instances; I feel I was given no support from dispatch. Nor do I feel that they even looked at the weather. It was as though they decided to let the pilots decide how to proceed; and stay as hands off as possible; greatly adding to my workload; and causing some significant delays. If they are that overworked; then something should be done to alleviate the shortage of dispatchers. In any event; I have enough to do without having to do an integral part of the dispatchers' jobs as well.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An air carrier Captain refiled a route to his planned destination prior to three flights to avoid weather because his Dispatcher refused to file or increase fuel even with known weather along the filed route.

Narrative: This report concerns multiple flights. In all four instances; I was filed on a route of flight that went through significantly strong thunderstorms; and in all four cases; I was given no contingency fuel to deal with said storms. On the first flight; I looked at the radar and saw our entire route went through the line of storms. I ACARSed our Dispatcher asking if they could look into a new route to the east of our planned route to keep us out of the weather. The response I got was a bit annoying. I was told that the Dispatcher would not look into it; that they had been doing their job a long time and knew that we wouldn't get any new route; and that we would just have to deal with it. I took it upon myself to contact ATC and get a new route; to which they were happy to oblige. I ACARSed my Dispatcher as such and had them run a new release. I am surprised that was even done for me; as it seems no support was being offered.On a flight the next day; our filed route would not work as weather had moved across our entire route. Again; we were given no contingency fuel; nor were we given any Canned Dispatch Routes (CDRs) for a different route (I thought we had CDR's now?). ATC asked if we had CDR's and if we had [a specific] route. I replied in the negative; so we received a full route clearance (all along [the route] with an altitude of 6;000 feet). It was like pulling teeth to get new fuel numbers from the Dispatcher.On the next flight again; there were significant storms along our route of flight. I asked the Dispatcher for a new route; and was again refused. We asked ATC for a new route; which they were happy to provide. At least in this case; the Dispatcher gave us enough extra fuel for the route we were given.Finally; on the last event; we were filed through a line of weather with no real extra fuel. I decided; in the interest of time; to ask ATC for a new route that would take us south of the weather. They gave us the new route; and sent it to Dispatch to run a new release. In all of these instances; I feel I was given no support from Dispatch. Nor do I feel that they even looked at the weather. It was as though they decided to let the pilots decide how to proceed; and stay as hands off as possible; greatly adding to my workload; and causing some significant delays. If they are that overworked; then something should be done to alleviate the shortage of dispatchers. In any event; I have enough to do without having to do an integral part of the dispatchers' jobs as well.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.