A300
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 100; Flight Crew Total 6000; Flight Crew Type 2500
Communication Breakdown; Confusion; Situational Awareness
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew Returned To Clearance
Company Policy; Human Factors
We were en route to MCO. The route was significantly north of what was normal because of a line of weather. We received a message over ACARS that we thought was from Dispatch recommending that we change our route to head direct to OCF which is one of the initial fixes on the PIGLET arrival into MCO. We assumed Dispatch could see that the weather had broken up and was suggesting for us to head that way. The weather was beyond our radar to get a good look so we asked ATC and headed that way.As we headed that way we could see that we were going to have to deviate back north. Shortly after this Dispatch inquired why we were headed that way to which we responded; 'you recommended this route'. They responded they did not and this was an independent message sent by this new system that the company purchased and they were unaware of the message being sent to us. Later we found out there was a bulletin [on the new system] that came out; but it was issued after we had left for our week of flying. The issues I am having is: 1. The message appeared to be from Dispatch. 2. It was sent without conferring with them to see if this was a good idea. 3. There appeared to be no correlation with real time weather concerns. 4. There was no attempt to educate crews about the new system other than the normal bulletin process which we were not able to get because we were gone. 5. It was made by a system that has no jurisdiction to communicate with us about flight matters. It should have come from dispatch and not some uninformed vendor or program.
The reporter advised that--after numerous complaints from flight crews reflecting the concerns expressed in his report--the company rescinded the use of the program on at least a temporary basis until it could be programmed to include Dispatch in the information loop prior to issuing the recommendation to flight crews.
An A300 flight crew modified their planned/cleared route of flight based on an ACARS message they believed to have been sent by their Dispatcher. When the reroute directed them toward weather around which they had originally been routed they discovered the suggested reroute had come from a service newly contracted by their company which forwarded the change without prior consultation with the Dispatcher responsible for the flight.