Well, the decision to ground (get rid of?) some 777s and rather keep the 744s will be based on total cost of ownership -- my guess is the lenders were less willing to cut lease rates for 777s given they are still popular in the market, while UA probably got major concessions on the 744s that more than make up in lower ownership costs what extra they cost in fuel. Not necessarily a dumb move.
A big issue I think is that, yet again, employee representation on the board does not seem to be working. However justifiably POed the IAM are, for Canale to toss his toys out of the pram and boycott a board meeting is just idiotic -- he's completely abdicating the responsibility of being a member of the board. An ineffective board may not have been the single major cause of many of UAL's problems, but it is a common cause across all of them. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like it's getting any better.
Remember, in the examiners report on whether unions were misled on benefits issues, a theme that did come up was not sharing financial projections with the board for fear of leaks. It's really no way for sr mgt and a board to run any company, never mind an airline.