West Coast I apologised once; I'm not doing it again. United's pilots still appear well paid by most standards, though I have no idea what wages are like for other worker groups within the airline - or the executives. The fact remains that United's bills are bigger than its ability to pay. Borrowing more is only going to defer the inevitable unless the bills can be made smaller, and pay is one of the few expenses that the airline has any hope of controlling.
You're right that this is a touchy subject but, as 411A says, better a job and some pay than no job and no pay. Once the airline has survived, then something can be done to restore things nearer to normality - and you can start to examine why it all went so wrong in the first place.
Incidentally, joining the airlines from the military or from commuters is not a practise restricted to the USA - it is common on this side of the Atlantic too. However, the pay rise experienced in the process is not large!