In 96 NWA was a "hot job." You see that designation move around. SWA used to be considered lousy, as did FedEx. Then they became the hot job and Delta looked pretty bad for a while. When I got hired, Delta was my #1 pick over FedEx, AirTran and others.
We can't really rank ourselves that way and it was not a consideration in the merger.
In the past, mergers have roughly gone by paycheck and equipment type. There is no need to complicate that status quo when dealing with the question of a fee for departure provider fling small jets, merging with the branded airline flying large jets. It is the only way to maintain the status quo that makes sense.
Now the merger of two fee for departure carriers is a whole lot more complicated.