Mr. Tilton's Income
Mr. Tilton is costing UAL something like $15k to $25k a day, it you count all the perks against this one year. That is a small fraction of the $9 million they lose each day. Most of us would be happy with that kind of pay, BUT ....
UAL was unable to attract a person with good airline experience for that kind of money - given that the company is likely to fail leaving a black mark on their resume. How many people will take a job that is very likely to hurt their future employment possibilites?