Narrative:

This is as most safety reports a combination of events: first management closes three international desks and spreads that workload to remaining dispatchers. Saturdays are busier than normal but no effort to adjust that today. Then management assigns domestic on what they thought was an open desk [xx] but that desk was open and they make that domestic dispatcher who showed at XA00 to move off the desk they assigned in error to desk [xx] one and half hours after being here; in that time of moving desk to desk [yy] they received several calls (please note that releases have that desk number on it) so the one remaining international desk [zz] has to now answer and transfer the calls to correct desk; while working their new workload which is in beginning of shift and they are also working to remain in control of desk. The domestic dispatcher is now rushing to move and reset up and transfer flights between desks; and of course there are several calls and now all desks in international which where reduced by two are forced to help the lone domestic dispatcher with these issues; in addition. Now that this dispatcher moved all but one flight was moved that was caught by incoming dispatcher and moved to the original desk that had it on the domestic side since new dispatcher was also on a call and still trying to set up their new desk. The phones kept ringing on wrong desk and the lone domestic dispatcher asked for help not knowing that two of the international dispatchers where already on phone with the domestic dispatchers other issues. I asked the international dispatcher next to me to get the chief to lend assistance but they where in the bridge morning meeting discussing the weather and daily assignments. The international dispatcher came back to report that chief was unavailable; and I suggested that the chief needs to leave that meeting and help domestic dispatcher for they are swamped and bringing down the entire caribbean team; so the other dispatcher went to chief and insisted on getting help for domestic dispatch and fortunately there was a chief in training who came down to answer phones and lend a hand. The phone calls I took where flight abcd time off gate was generated in error and needed to be removed; flight daee was in ZZZ going to ZZZ1 and they where given a ground delay and ATC re-route so then I had to get reroute ensure compliance build that route and verify that we had petrol to accomplish this: I got so in detailed with this issues I did not get time out and I had to ask international dispatcher to remove that time. While working on weather briefing and re-route another of the domestic lines where ringing and all international dispatchers where on phone so I grabbed the call and placed them on hold to finish re-route but that person hung up and then called. I advised the captain of flight daee that I would finish re-route after I briefed on weather and send them an ACARS with route and burns; since the domestic dispatcher was at this point under water and not coming up. The captain said that would be fine and I built his new route while I answered another one of the domestic dispatchers phone lines. This was a flight attendant who once I answered she said they had a medical emergency and needed medlink! I asked for flight number while I was still engaged in the re-route for the domestic dispatch (placing all my international desk and its duties on lower priority). The flight attendant (flight attendant) was not using proper radio telephone procedure; nor had any patience; to connect to medlink we need basic info flight number; age; gender; problem or issue but the flight attendant when placed on hold thought they where disconnected and called back but to further aspirate the issue they called the original desk domestic side of room and needed to be transferred to international side of room. So this one flight and one flight attendant had to be spoken to sternly just to remain on line with medlink. Now once medlink got on lineagain the flight attendant did not provide information had to be extracted by medlink and that conversation was very difficult because the flight attendant world speak pause and speak not allowing medlink to speak or speaking over medlink with the constant live mic one of the mics stuck open and there was a constant hiss in back ground and flight attendant kept telling doctor to speak louder and the doctor was practically yelling; finally the flight attendant said that they could not hear so I ACARS crew to have PIC call in and speak to medlink; since the doctor on board was saying they needed to land now; the domestic dispatcher got that call and remained on line with the medlink and did divert the flight but this poor planning of management and multiple error caused problems for a international section that was already task saturated due to managements closing of several desk and distributing that international workload.several failures: first management not understanding that it is not the number of flights but the quality of work and the management team has closed desk that was originally planned open based on published schedule. Second; management not familiar with work on quad and placed a domestic dispatcher on a weekend international desk; third; the decision to move was not well thought or executed and if it was not for another dispatcher an airborne flight would have been left unattended; forth; placing a domestic dispatcher in an area by themselves with no support of other domestic dispatchers working similar area and familiar with weather; gdp; and ATC initiatives; fifth; only having one chief who was also task saturated; sixth; not having properly training flight attendants on proper radio telephone etiquette and protocol. Stop closing desk; and staff properly (follow workload committee models numbers and not a number that is not truly representative of the actual work. Have sector managers that come from ranks of dispatch and fully understand issues on floor or at least have them trained by dispatch instructors who have worked the floor. Place like dispatchers together i.e. Domestic working northeast or ZZZ1 or southeast together so highest quality of information is properly disseminated to flight crews without taking extra time and further task saturating the other dispatchers and areas. Have an international chief and domestic chief (or at least two chiefs; who are current and qualified to better aid floor dispatchers). Properly train all flight attendants for proper radio telephone etiquette and protocol.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Dispatcher reported staffing issues resulting in being inundated with various tasks and moving from the desk to desk in order try to maintain operational control and communications with their flights.

Narrative: This is as most safety reports a combination of events: First management closes three International desks and spreads that workload to remaining dispatchers. Saturdays are busier than normal but no effort to adjust that today. Then management assigns domestic on what they thought was an open desk [XX] but that desk was open and they make that domestic dispatcher who showed at XA00 to move off the desk they assigned in error to desk [XX] one and half hours after being here; in that time of moving desk to desk [YY] they received several calls (please note that releases have that desk number on it) so the one remaining international desk [ZZ] has to now answer and transfer the calls to correct desk; while working their new workload which is in beginning of shift and they are also working to remain in control of desk. The Domestic Dispatcher is now rushing to move and reset up and transfer flights between desks; and of course there are several calls and now all desks in international which where reduced by two are forced to help the lone domestic dispatcher with these issues; in addition. Now that this Dispatcher moved all but one flight was moved that was caught by incoming Dispatcher and moved to the original desk that had it on the domestic side since new Dispatcher was also on a call and still trying to set up their new desk. The phones kept ringing on wrong desk and the lone Domestic Dispatcher asked for help not knowing that two of the International Dispatchers where already on phone with the Domestic Dispatchers other issues. I asked the International Dispatcher next to me to get the Chief to lend assistance but they where in the bridge morning meeting discussing the weather and daily assignments. The International Dispatcher came back to report that Chief was unavailable; and I suggested that the Chief needs to leave that meeting and help domestic dispatcher for they are swamped and bringing down the entire Caribbean team; so the other dispatcher went to Chief and insisted on getting help for domestic dispatch and fortunately there was a Chief in training who came down to answer phones and lend a hand. The phone calls I took where Flight ABCD time off gate was generated in error and needed to be removed; Flight DAEE was in ZZZ going to ZZZ1 and they where given a ground delay and ATC re-route so then I had to get reroute ensure compliance build that route and verify that we had petrol to accomplish this: I got so in detailed with this issues I did not get time out and I had to ask International Dispatcher to remove that time. While working on weather briefing and re-route another of the Domestic lines where ringing and all International Dispatchers where on phone so I grabbed the call and placed them on hold to finish re-route but that person hung up and then called. I advised the captain of Flight DAEE that I would finish re-route after I briefed on weather and send them an ACARS with route and burns; since the Domestic Dispatcher was at this point under water and not coming up. The Captain said that would be fine and I built his new route while I answered another one of the Domestic Dispatchers phone lines. This was a flight attendant who once I answered she said they had a medical emergency and needed Medlink! I asked for flight number while I was still engaged in the re-route for the Domestic Dispatch (placing all my international desk and its duties on lower priority). The Flight Attendant (FA) was not using proper radio telephone procedure; nor had any patience; to connect to Medlink we need basic info flight number; age; gender; problem or issue but the FA when placed on hold thought they where disconnected and called back but to further aspirate the issue they called the original desk domestic side of room and needed to be transferred to international side of room. So this one flight and one flight attendant had to be spoken to sternly just to remain on line with Medlink. Now once Medlink got on lineagain the FA did not provide information had to be extracted by Medlink and that conversation was very difficult because the FA world speak pause and speak not allowing Medlink to speak or speaking over Medlink with the constant live mic one of the mics stuck open and there was a constant hiss in back ground and flight attendant kept telling doctor to speak louder and the doctor was practically yelling; finally the FA said that they could not hear so I ACARS crew to have PIC call in and speak to Medlink; since the doctor on board was saying they needed to land now; the Domestic Dispatcher got that call and remained on line with the Medlink and did divert the flight but this poor planning of management and multiple error caused problems for a international section that was already task saturated due to managements closing of several desk and distributing that international workload.Several failures: First Management not understanding that it is not the number of flights but the quality of work and the management team has closed desk that was originally planned open based on published schedule. Second; Management not familiar with work on quad and placed a Domestic Dispatcher on a weekend International desk; third; the decision to move was not well thought or executed and if it was not for another dispatcher an airborne flight would have been left unattended; Forth; placing a domestic dispatcher in an area by themselves with no support of other domestic dispatchers working similar area and familiar with weather; GDP; and ATC initiatives; fifth; only having one chief who was also task saturated; sixth; not having properly training flight attendants on proper radio telephone etiquette and protocol. Stop closing desk; and Staff properly (follow workload committee models numbers and not a number that is not truly representative of the actual work. Have sector managers that come from ranks of dispatch and fully understand issues on floor or at least have them trained by dispatch instructors who have worked the floor. Place like dispatchers together i.e. domestic working NE or ZZZ1 or SE together so highest quality of information is properly disseminated to flight crews without taking extra time and further task saturating the other dispatchers and areas. Have an International Chief and Domestic Chief (or at least two Chiefs; who are current and qualified to better aid floor dispatchers). Properly train all flight attendants for proper radio telephone etiquette and protocol.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.