If you do not wish to fly on a MAX aircraft, you have the flexibility to change your flight with no change fee for most Economy and premium cabin tickets for flights within the U.S.; flights between the U.S. and Mexico or the Caribbean; or international flights originating in the U.S. Change fees are also waived for ...
The Boeing 737 MAX has had its fair share of troubles since it entered service but has been safely flying since December 2020, with hundreds of units in the sky every day.
No refusals to travel
As such, many airlines prepared for nervous passengers to refuse to fly on the aircraft. Ryanair was one of these, with CEO Michael O'Leary stating in 2020 that passengers could have their tickets refunded if they refused to travel on the type.
If there is an aircraft that you want to avoid it is this one. The 737MAX has been responsible for the deaths of 346 people in 2 separate plane accidents. The FAA, who is equally to blame as is Boeing is now approving the return of the 737 MAX, after grounding the jet for 20 months.
A month after the Indonesian MAX crash, the FAA formally assessed the risk of further crashes due to a malfunction of the same flight control system. It concluded that, without a fix, there would be about 15 crashes over the entire life of the MAX fleet — one crash every two or three years on average.
Union officials indicate that pilots like the Max and are confident in the changes from Boeing. Representatives of three unions said that crews were largely happy with the plane and added that, except at a select few airlines, training backlogs were the biggest challenge to getting more pilots in the cockpit.
Because of the sheer intensity of the scrutiny the aircraft faced, the Boeing 737 MAX could be considered one of the safest in the world. In fact, among the dozens of models of commercial airliners around the world, it is likely the safest due to the amount of regulation testing that took place.
Both the Federal Aviation Administration and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency have approved the MAX as safe to fly passengers.
An easy way, for now, to avoid the 737-MAX is to figure out which airlines are flying the plane, and when. If you don't want to fly it, the simplest solution would be to choose another airline. Here's the airlines with firm orders, or letters of intent to fly the 737 MAX, many of which have already been delivered.
The Boeing 737 MAX passenger airliner was grounded worldwide between March 2019 and December 2020 – longer in many jurisdictions – after 346 people died in two crashes: Lion Air Flight 610 on October 29, 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on March 10, 2019.
After a 20-month review that included design and software changes as well as enhanced training, the FAA agreed in late 2020 to allow the plane to fly again. Airlines around the world began returning them to service last year, though they remain grounded in some countries, most notably China.
The Telegraph said: “Norwegian's 737s have the same issue (avoid seats 10A, 11A and 11F), as does American Airlines' (steer clear of 11A and 11F). “But if you fly with easyJet, the windowless perches are at the back, rather than in the middle.
This includes for reasons of health, safety or security, or inadequate travel documentation. So, for example, it is reasonable for an airline to deny boarding if the passenger does not have a valid passport or, where required, the correct paperwork to prove a negative covid test.
Southwest maintains the largest Boeing 737 MAX fleet, though the Ryanair Group is close to knocking the US low-cost carrier from the top.
The move away from the MAX name has been a subtle process and Boeing has begun to use the name 737 MAX and 737-8(7 through 10) interchangeably. This way they are transitioning away from the MAX name toward the normal naming convention of modern Boeing aircraft.
Nearly 1,100 MAX aircraft have now flown over 4.6 million flight hours and over 1.8 million flights. Almost 70 airlines operate the four variants, amounting to over 4,200 daily flights worldwide. Since last year's Farnborough Airshow, Boeing has received orders for more than 1,000 aircraft.
EASA declares Boeing 737 MAX safe to return to service in Europe | EASA.
Boeing has told a US court it was not guilty of concealing information about flight control systems on its 737 Max aircraft, which led to two crashes, killing 346 people. Flaws in the systems were found to have led to the accidents, but Boeing avoided a trial by agreeing to pay $2.5bn (£1.8bn).
While the best seat can be subjective, seats with the most legroom are often the most coveted. These seats include the bulkhead seats (row 1), the exit row seats, and the window seats behind the exit row door (seat 12A on the Boeing 737-700 and seats 16A and 16F on the Boeing 737-800 and Boeing 737 MAX 8).
The Boeing 737 MAX 8 is a new plane that had its first flight in January 2016. Despite its short time on the market, the MAX 8 has been involved in two tragedies in fewer than five months: the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash on March 10, 2019, and the Lion Air Flight JT 610 crash on Oct. 29, 2018.
The troubled jet resumed flying commercially in the United States late last year. But Boeing asked airlines last month to stop flying some of the planes because of a potential electrical problem.
The FAA ultimately grounded the MAX on March 13, 2019 and lifted the flight prohibition order in November 2020 after Boeing made a series of software upgrades and training changes.
Despite a healthy order book and recovery from the earlier grounding, the problems are not over for Boeing and the 737 MAX. Most notably, two of the 737 variants - the 737 MAX 7 and MAX 10 - are still to receive certification. These were given a lifeline in late 2022 with a certification waiver from US Congress.
Utilizing the International Civil Aviation Organization safety occurrence data, from 2008 to 2019, these aircraft were compared in terms of occurrence type, occurrence category, phase of flight, injury level, and fatalities. It was found that Boeing had more accidents than expected, while Airbus had less (p = 0.015).