This is just my own opinion about the SSP, but I think that it probably gave a lot of interviews to people Delta wouldn't have necessarily talked to under normal circumstances. They didn't alter their expectations.
I suspect DGI will have similar results in the end.
(I am not saying this is fair, frankly the whole mystique about going to mainline is stupid... the 717 and MD80 drivers in my crashpad are doing the exact same flying almost route-for-route that I am doing in the 900... it is being paid more to do the same job and shouldn't be treated as big a deal as it is now)