Sink or Swim
Almost every purchase I make goes on my United Mileage Plus Visa so I have a vested interest in seeing United Airlines succeed. That being said, I have to agree with Kevin at Truck and Barter here that it is time for United to learn to live without government loan guarantees. Here is his summary:

If they cannot climb out of bankruptcy on their own, perhaps they don't deserve to survive. I say let 'em fail!

There would be a market upheaval if the second largest carrier failed. I'm not going to judge whether this would be "good" or "bad" in a welfare sense, but clearly creative destruction is sweeping through the airline industry.

It would be a shame if they failed, but they need to learn how to make money. As Southwest and Jet Blue have proven, you can make money in air travel.