I dunno, but if AA could somehow attract the bulk of NW's higher-yielding pax to Asia (by converting their WP miles to AAdvantage miles/immediately matching status, etc) and could simultaneously dump the lower yielding domestic pax onto whomever will have them, don't ya think the benefits could outweigh the costs?
AA's gonna end the quarter with something like $6 billion of unrestricted cash in the bank (less any unanticipated extra debt paydown). Spending a little of that to bring in another $8 billion or $10 billion of annual revenue (say the top 2/3 of NW's revenue) might just pay off in spades.
The next wave of airline consolidation isn't gonna be just about getting larger, it's gonna be about trying to attract and keep the higher-yielding customers of the acquired airline and dumping the bargain fare hunters of both the acquired and the acquiring airline.