DL has a program to upgrade deserving employees to dispatchers. I think they cover the costs.

I hear it is the "fizziest" of sodas....😁

Scheduling is now about 70/30 Delta to outside contractors, they are no longer ALL Delta employees. Decision One is the contractor and what that pipeline looks like I have NO idea, but I do know that's who they come from. This started about two years ago as a way to stay under the merit head count. I can also tell you that it seems to be an unofficial policy that the contractors who do well in the department seem to get first consideration for the move up when it comes to open Delta slots. It was mentioned here before but just to reinforce it, the Delta Dispatch Academy is a great way to get your certificate and there is some financial assistance available in the form of a loan that you pay back over time, it's a very reasonable payment schedule and it's a non factor in the paycheck impact department. It is however NOT a guarantee of a job in Flight Control but it seems to be the method that DL prefers to find candidates to fill open Dispatch positions and that stands to reason. They have already been tested and passed the personality and skills assessments and they have the opportunity to evaluate you over nine weeks. Good luck in your quest.

you might also want to look at openings in DL central load. They also work in the SOC and might give you a good shot at moving into a dispatch roll. the only people at DL that I know of that have gone into scheduling or central load have been internals. I think they offer the job internally first and if they are unable to fill it then it goes to the outside world.