jsled:

I was there at the MEC level in 1985, and was privy to the conversations about the offer. The reason why the AMR contract was turned down can be summed up in the statement of the MEC Chair, Roger Hall, "we may end up with a "b-scale" but they will have to pay for it if they want it..."

In fact it was considered and turned down for two reasons:
1. It would not work. UAL would have been about 800 pilots short due to the better work rules in the AMR contract.
2. Second the "b-scale" became the focus of the 1985 negotiations and the MEC, led by Roger Hall, at the time would not go down in history as selling out the un-hired/furloughed pilots at the time.

Additionally you might remember at the time UAL already had a "b-scale" in place from the 1981 contract where the MEC Chair, John Ferg, sold out the furloughees with permanent "b-scale" S/O pay rates, which is credited with leading the way for AMR's "b-scale." In 1985 Roger Hall determined he would not be the author of another such incident even though it was inevitable.

As far as the DL scales go today, if pilots want more than DAL then stop pointing a finger at how "good" things are over at DAL.