Originally Posted by UA_Flyer

If you ask whether it is still safe to fly United to different people rather than just Flyertalkers, I anticipate the responses will be quite diverged.

In the US, news media has a lot of influence on what to report and how to report, I expect larger numbers non-frequent flyers will say yes.
If you ask the same questions to those who fly frequently outside of US especially in emerging markets, some may be surprised with the question. There is no flag carrier in the US, but United is close to be America's flag carrier in the eyes of many overseas,

Tires falling, panels falling, landing gear door jammed, etc. - these tend to be more visible and images sometimes may make things a lot worse than what they are. United's problem, as other has mentioned, could be PR related. It has been a legacy PMUA issue, and United just does not seem to be able to address its PR issue.

I feel safe flying United. IMHO, United has a team of well trained and some of the most experienced pilots in business. You don't become the largest long-haul carrier in the world without a team of experienced professional flight crew. I have flown quite a number of airlines including many considered to be five-star in terms of on-board amenity and services offerings, and I feel safe flying United based on how the planes are flown, take off, landing and during turbulence resulting from almost 7 million BIS miles (a whisker away from 5 Million BIS on United)

Recent incidents or issues have not changed my opinion.