Neither dispatch nor MCC is trained to care about RTS.

I had an airplane where the #1 engine was having oil consumption monitored every leg by MX. Super simple check. Contract MX checks the oil, makes the entry in the logbook. Snap a photo of the logbook page and sends it off to MCC. Ridiculous process, but easy enough.

On the first leg, the check was done within 15 minutes of arriving at the gate. 15min prior to push, I checked our condition via the fancy new button in ACARS. OOS. 10 minutes prior. OOS. It’s been 40 minutes since the check. OOS. I ACARS dispatch. He said it’s not his job. He will let us know when we are RTS. It’s now passed our departure time. The issue is either a shift change at MCC and they weren’t paying attention to us or the photo never made it. I convinced the CA to call and sure enough, “We never got the photo.” We sent a new photo. RTS a minute later.

No one gives a crap. Work conditions suck for all departments. Dispatch knew we were about to be late but they are trained to just sit there. Don’t bug MCC. MCC is trained to just sit there and wait for a photo. They knew the airplane went OOS over 40 minutes ago for a simple oil check. They just shrug their shoulders, “I don’t know. “I’m waiting for a photo of the logbook page. Not my problem.”

Flight crews are left to solve the problem. We probably could have adopted the same attitude and waited another hour before dispatch finally messaged us asking why we hadn’t left yet.

Sure, electronic logbook is where we should be, but if no one cares even that won’t completely solve RTS issues.