gloopy

Not sure where you got that. You'd have to be living under a rock not to see that AMR is in play, from multipile angles and numerous scenarios. Most of the DL speculation centers around how many of our own will have to eat a furlough over this, regardless of what happens to AA or AE. Also, if you've read any of the posts, you'd see plenty of talk about the potential slicing and dicing of the DL network is a top concern.

One thing is for certain: if there is an AA fragmentation it won't be because of Delta. It will be happening anyway and DL may or may not play a part in it. Odds are that other airlines will as well, regardless of how much AA survives in tact and/or fully merges.

Also, AE will be shrunk dramatically unless AA survives as a stand alone with very little asset sales...AND...if the AA pilots gut their own scope. But if they are willing to do that to the extent necessary to preserve AE (replacing 50 seaters with 100/100+seaters) they would be just as willing to bargain away other portions of their scope to facilitate a more favorable fragmentation even if that ends up happening.

Other than maybe a very few, very senior, pilots living in ORD, MIA and DFW, no one at Delta is salivating over this because for every scenario that would cause positive movement for the DL list, there is one that causes significant stagnation and several that will cause massive career changing furloughs.

Other than running up the price for a competitor in a bidding war or getting a very few assets here or there in a full (unlikely) or partial (more likely) or very partial (most likely) fragmentation, a full on merger with AA will be absolutely horriffic for DL pilots.