B767 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 200; Flight Crew Total 15000; Flight Crew Type 350
Confusion
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General None Reported / Taken
Procedure
During pushback we received word over ACARS that final weights were not available because we needed an ETOPS signoff and did not have one.  This flight is never an ETOPS flight and we questioned maintenance why we needed a signoff.  Maintenance told us we did not need one and were ok to continue.  We called the Duty Manager to get additional clarification and he said he would call us back.  When he called several minutes later he told us that he had checked with dispatch and that our flight was not an ETOPS flight and we did not require a signoff and that we were ok to go. About an hour after takeoff we received ETOPS weather and questioned dispatch who said that even though this flight is never an ETOPS flight for some reason the previous dispatcher had filed it as one.
We were scheduled to fly to [South America]. Neither one of us expected an ETOPS dispatched flight as our experience had shown us it was not normally an ETOPS flight. As we had been pushed back we were waiting for our final numbers; which did not arrive so we sent a late weights message which was responded to by weights not available as ETOPS maintenance Service check not complete. We then noticed that the flight plan was actually an ETOPS dispatched flight. The captain was ensured by maintenance and by the Duty Manager who conferred with dispatch that we did not need the ETOPS maintenance sign off as we were not an ETOPS flight. It seemed odd because the flight plan from saber was indicating ETOPS and had a c.p. point. We were assured that we were okay to go and did not need an ETOPS sign off. As we were in cruise we received ETOPS wx and then suspected again that there was a problem because we had a flight plan indicating ETOPS and now we were receiving ETOPS weather. We asked the new shift dispatcher why we would be ETOPS as we were within one hour flying time of airports; and we asked if perhaps Bermuda was closed and this could be the reason we were dispatched as such. The dispatcher did not know why his colleague had filed us this way as were not considered to be on an ETOPS leg. We did not think we were ETOPS especially since Bermuda was a viable airport and we considered ourselves to always be within one hour of a suitable alternate. Hopefully there will be some clarification by the original dispatcher as to why we were filed this way.
B767 flight crew discovers during pushback; while waiting for their final weights; that their flight has been dispatched as an ETOPS flight while the flight is definitely non ETOPS. It was learned that the Dispatcher who planned the flight had selected ETOPS for no apparent reason.