I'm AC*G moving to the US. I'm not quite sure which my new airline of choice ends up being, but I already booked 2 trips on DL for early 2010 (UA/US were significantly more expensive). After reading through this forum, I thought it may make sense to get a status match from DL or NWA.

My questions:
1. By what date will the NWA-DL merger be completed? Could I get the match from NWA but will effectively have status on DL by the time I do my trips?
2. I understand that the match is a "once-in-a-lifetime" deal, but if I use it with NWA, will I still have one at DL?
3. Does this match in any way affect my status with AC? In other words in 2010, I would have status in two networks.