With a strong presence on the West Coast , United benefited from the dot-com boom which boosted traffic ( especially premium traffic ) to the San Francisco hub . This increase was only temporary and when the bubble finally burst , United was in a worse position than before because it had failed to keep costs under control , possibly due to giving its pilots pay raises of up to 28 % in the summer of 2000 . Coupled with a battered network , the post-9 / 11 decline in air travel and skyrocketing oil prices , the company lost $ 2.14 billion in 2001 on revenues of . In the same year United applied for a loan guarantee from the federal Air Transportation Stabilization Board established in the wake of the September 11 attacks . When the IAM union failed to approve the loan guarantee — while all other unions approved it — the application was rejected in late 2002 and the company was forced to seek debtor-in-possession financing from commercial sources to cover the expected future losses . United made several attempts to obtain the government loans , even enlisting several congressmen and senators for help . The government rejected the application claiming United " could probably obtain the in financing it needs to emerge from protection without a federal loan guarantee "
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
History of United Airlines