Yesterday, in my weekly column for ABCNews.com, I wrote about the top five things that are good about mergers. It was pretty straightforward, but in some cases, my tongue was firmly lodged in cheek.

But it got me to thinking. And thinking.

So I came up with a brand NEW list that, shall we say, covers the same ground in a “slightly” more cynical manner.

Take a look; I think it will help you start your day with a smile (and I urge you: add your own items to “the list”).

Yes, that’s one of my Top Five Silver Linings when it comes to airline mergers; please click here for the entire column (and I’ll explain about those jerks).

In case you’re new here, I do a weekly column for ABCNews.com; it appears each Wednesday morning.

Interesting article in the New York Times today about Southwest and mergers.

Southwest, it seems, is quite enthusiastic about mergers — for other airlines. Southwest’s CEO says, they’re doing fine on their own, thanks, but if others want to merge (especially United and US Airways) why, they’d be happy to start seizing some of the new entity’s market share.

Merging isn’t for Southwest though; the airline is doing better than any of the others, thanks to its leaders’ foresight in hedging fuel costs, so why take on a weak partner? As I said, interesting reading.

The demise of the “imminent” merger of Continental and United this weekend had me pondering the ramifications of the next widely reported merger: United and US Airways.

I thought it would be interesting to check out our flight schedule database and do some quick analysis on these candidates to see what sort of trouble might be brewing for travelers in the path of this potential “marriage”…

Questions, questions: How will the happy couple’s trip down the aisle shape air travel to come? I answered that in my latest column for ABCNews.com. Here’s a preview:

“No, I didn’t get all sentimental at the news of the forthcoming ‘wedding’ between Delta and Northwest, but I do wish them the very best.”

“That said, let’s get down to the essentials. You have a ticket for a Delta or Northwest flight and you wonder, is it still good? Yes! Rest easy on that score.”

But what about your frequent flier miles? Click here to read the column.

Update: If you missed me on CNN, you can check out the video here.

I’m on CNN again today (12:10 EDT), talking about the Delta/Northwest merger.

One of the things I want to do is allay some fears about what this will mean to individual passengers.

I can say this: if you have tickets, don’t worry about it — they are still good — and so are your frequent flier miles.

If you see the broadcast, let me know what you think!

I’ll have tons of new information on the merger up on this site and in my ABCNews.com column — see the latest column here.

I have been asked dozens of questions about the merger and probably will get hundreds more, but the one question I haven’t gotten is “What makes you the happiest about the merger?” — for me it is dead simple:

Never again typing in: Northwest.com and getting that ridiculous website (which has nothing to do with the airline), simply because Northwest Airlines was too cheap buy the domain name from the squatter (bet the holder of that domain just had his property value go down by several hundred thousand ….)

Update: It has been officially announced this evening see the AP story here

I guess I should say, watch this space.

Because, according to reports, a merger between Delta and Northwest is getting very close (though no one from either airline is commenting). We are hearing that an announcement could come today.

If the merger goes ahead, it will create the world’s largest airline — and possibly spur new merger agreements.

The proposed merger between Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines is like something you might see in a celebrity gossip magazine. Are they together? Are they apart? Well, it depends on what week it is.

The latest news from the merger front is that Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines are back on. Pilots with both carriers have raised issues that have helped to stall merger talks, but now it seems the airlines might be willing to move forward without the full blessing of the pilots…

Watch for me on the CNN program called “Your $$$$$”

I’m on the show that runs this Saturday (Feb. 23) at 1pm ET, 10am PT and watch for the repeat on Sunday (Feb. 24) at 3pm ET.

My hosts, Ali Velshi and Christine Romans asked me about recent surcharges (because of jet fuel) and, we talked about the effect of mergers on consumers (something I wrote about in my weekly column for ABCNews.com).

I also told my CNN hosts that, if you’re sitting on a lot of Frequent Flier miles from legacy airlines, now might be a good time to use them (click here for the transcript of the CNN program).

Take a look, and tell me what you think.

I have been closely following the proposed Delta- Northwest merger for the past several weeks and, since it looks like it could happen any moment, I thought I’d share some things to watch for.

Some…”surprising” things.

I actually came up with a total of 11 surprises; let’s count them down together.