Dispatch Dispatcher
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
General None Reported / Taken
Equipment / Tooling; Weather
When I first sat down and reviewed the weather for all of my already released flights I noticed one did not have an alternate and the latest TAF (Day 1 XA:47Z) required one based on the Tempo for Broken 1;500 feet and an arrival of XF:23.  I checked the TAF the flight was released on (Day 0 XA:16Z) and it was not calling for the ceiling so it was released legally but appears the dispatcher missed the conditions in the new TAF.  I informed the dispatcher about the issue.  A bigger issue arose when I went to contact the crew enroute about the issue.  I pulled the last release from the computer which had a time stamp of XB:31 from when the crew picked it up.  The release stated it had the exemption and under alternates it said XXY.  Confused; I called the supervisor. He and I went back and saw another release one under the attachments button with a time stamp of XA:05 from when the previous dispatcher released the flight.  It appears that when the crew picked up the release Sabre updated all their weather; since the new TAF required an alternate Sabre went and added the 1-1-3 exemption behind our backs so to the crew everything looked legal.  There was a TAF requiring an alternate and they had the exemption noted on the release so they didn't need one.   How is this even possible? Who knows how many other flights operated with this exemption added without the dispatcher knowing?  Sabre could have added the exemption without the dispatcher knowing and with thunderstorms in the forecast or even to airport that can't legally use the exemption.
An Air Carrier Dispatcher discovers that one of the flights that was originally dispatched without an alternate required one at the time of departure. The Sabre flight planning software apparently detected the need for an alternate and automatically issued 1;1;3 exemption without the Dispatcher being aware.