Times change. The fact is that any merging on Legacies will have many hurdles to get over to win approval. That does not mean that they will not try.
Each execuitive branch knows that they are being forced in to a decision from multiple sources. ( Fuel, Bush leaving office, and the board members).
With all of this external pressure, it is only inevitable that someone tries. DAL will probably be the first that will announce, due to the fact that their board is stacked with people that want them to merge. IE hedge fund managers. I am sure that DAL has been fighting this tooth and nail, but at the end of the day they are squirrel's chasing a nut like us. They have people that they need to answer to as well.