Narrative:

Prior to this flight being planned there was an email concerning south america staffing changes. A sector was being closed. With comments that the flight had been moved to a sector monitored by the same desk; and that if the flight was delayed that action needed to be taken. This flight departed early. (Aircraft X is a very early departure; this may have led to the flight being omitted or the flight from the previous day being moved.)as the oncoming dispatcher; I was briefed by the dispatcher sitting at the desk I was assuming and the dispatcher on [a different] desk that was passing [two] sectors to [another] desk. The desk responsibility sheet was on the desk showing [four] sectors assigned to [one] desk. I added the sectors to my desk at sign in. I read my emails early in the shift and noted the comment that the flights had been moved. I noticed on the aircraft situation display that there was a svr turbulence PIREP over northeast nicaragua; and noted that the report was made by a [company] flight. I looked to see who was monitoring the flight and discovered the flight was unmonitored as it was assigned to [the closed] sector. I logged into the flight and saw that the flight had been attempting to report the turbulence and they were concerned there was no response from dispatch.if the flight had not encountered svr turbulence we would not have known that this flight was not monitored. Aircraft X transited the area and would have been advised of the turbulence had a dispatcher been signed into the sector. The phones were not properly configured with the closure of the desks.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier Dispatcher reported a gap in operational coverage discovered when a flight provided a PIREP for severe turbulence that was not being monitored.

Narrative: Prior to this flight being planned there was an email concerning South America staffing changes. A sector was being closed. With comments that the flight had been moved to a sector monitored by the same desk; and that if the flight was delayed that action needed to be taken. This flight departed early. (Aircraft X is a very early departure; this may have led to the flight being omitted or the flight from the previous day being moved.)As the oncoming dispatcher; I was briefed by the dispatcher sitting at the desk I was assuming and the dispatcher on [a different] desk that was passing [two] sectors to [another] desk. The desk responsibility sheet was on the desk showing [four] sectors assigned to [one] desk. I added the sectors to my desk at sign in. I read my emails early in the shift and noted the comment that the flights had been moved. I noticed on the Aircraft Situation Display that there was a SVR turbulence PIREP over northeast Nicaragua; and noted that the report was made by a [Company] flight. I looked to see who was monitoring the flight and discovered the flight was unmonitored as it was assigned to [the closed] sector. I logged into the flight and saw that the flight had been attempting to report the turbulence and they were concerned there was no response from dispatch.If the flight had not encountered SVR turbulence we would not have known that this flight was not monitored. Aircraft X transited the area and would have been advised of the turbulence had a dispatcher been signed into the sector. The phones were not properly configured with the closure of the desks.

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.