Are the pilots unions still stalling the merger talks? Delta and Northwest has the ability to merge without pilot union consent, and without giving 30% raises to the pilot group. Hopefully the Delta and Northwest pilots will agree before management decides to take these benefits off the table and go ahead with the merger anyway.
With the bad state of the airline industry, the skyrocketing price of fuel, and the lack of pricing power preventing major airlines from raising fares, a Delta/Northwest merger (and then the UAL/CAL merger to follow) will do a great deal to fix some problems within the industry. Hopefully the Delta/Northwest pilots come to an agreement before management decides it is more beneficial to merge the airlines even without pilot consent.