Hey Ignition Override,
Without joining the debate on Airbus vs. Boeing vis a vis subsidies et al, I would point out that subsidising an aircraft manafacturer is not the same as propping up an airline. Not that I am saying that any given aircraft manafacturer is being subsidised and any given air carrier propped up, Ahem!
Many European carriers will buy the aircraft product that suits them best, and not just "Airbus 'cos it's European". British Airways' longhaul fleet is exclusively Boeing with not an A330/340 in sight.
But to get back to the topic of UA (and US carriers) competing against European carriers, I don't think there are any clear answers. I personally don't agree with some of those on here who believe that flat out the European carriers have the total raw deal here by having to compete against insolvent government propped up US carriers and that these (US) carriers need to go. I think the issue is more complex than that. But if we look at the situation today, September 11th did hit UA and AA, as well as other US carriers harder than the European carriers. So (leaving party politics out of it), while I also don't think that BA, LH, KL et al should have to compete on an unlevel playing field, I also feel that some slack should be given to UA (and all the US carriers) where appropriate. I guess that was the point of the ATSB loan guarantee programme...
September 11th did spark a bit of a chain reaction, but for UA and many of the majors, it was a wake up to reality check that made these carriers realise that they were operating inefficiently, often with poor management strategy, overpaid staff etc. This HAS changed at UA, as Jim points out, UA staff have already taken considerable pay hikes. I'm not familiar with left seat pay on the 744 at UA, but I can tell you that for the F/A and Cust Service staff, the wages recieved for the work done are at best modest, and certainly not exorbitant by any means.
I see both sides of the fence here, but to go back to UA, I would re-iterate that they have tens of thousands of hard working loyal employees who are trying hard to turn UA around, and yeah, UA still has a pile of crappy issues that need a giant sized pooper scooper. But they ARE a different carrier from the UA of 4 years ago, and I wish them all the very best as they go forward.