Please accept my apologies for the sloppy quote style. I don't know how to quote two levels deep so I simply applied topic labels to the two topics I had either broached or previously commented on.

1. I addressed this up thread, but Delta's investment in MU predates Ed's tenure at the helm, and his vision towards partnerships isn't in line with that of his predecessors. From a de facto standpoint, the DL-MU partnership is close to meaningless these days. It's not outright antagonistic like we see with CI, but there is no love there. Feelings towards MU might sour a bit if/when MU ensures that neither DL nor UA can operate LAX-PVG profitably again.

2. With respect to PKX, Zhongnanhai didn't exactly force airlines to move, but it provided strong incentives and those that took the bait are kind of stuck (i.e. not an easy process to reverse). I don't have any articles to cite, but I'm friends with one of the people who was involved in that process (he's since changed jobs).