BlueZebra

But doesn't DL and AA fly the same aircraft that have had issues? Unless you are deliberately implying it is not the aircraft, it is UA maintenance.

porciuscato

I just replaced a smoke detector, which required me to climb a ladder. I incurred more risk in the last hour than I have in the last few years of flying on United.

eightblack

I'm more fearful of UA's catering killing me than any mechanical/pilot/maintenance error

JimInOhio

Do I feel safe flying UA? Unequivocally yes.

I also believe many of the comparisons to driving are misguided. The real comparison between flying and driving involves inter-city highway travel. I don't have the stats in my back pocket but it's been shown that that type of automobile travel is far safer than the overall vehicle safety stats suggest. Still not in the same ballpark with flying, though.

Bear96

And, I wouldn't consider Colgan to have been a "major" US carrier.

Daze

40,000 die in car crashes in the US alone every year, not including serious injuries. As several posters have said, the last multiple fatality air crash in the US was in 2009.

When I sit down on an airplane, I relax.

findark

It was Colgan Air dba Continental Connection, so unless you want to caveat "major carrier" as "mainline only", it was still a major-carrier incident in that sense.

n198ua

The main reason I fly UA is safety. I've never felt unsafe on a UA flight.

manneca

I fly Lion (Indonesia) a lot. I breathe a sigh of relief when I fly UA.

uanj

You must mean an A380 in all Y config to reach those numbers, I say in my best black humor voice.

It's both the quantity of news inundating us every day and the quality. Poor editing quality like suddenly reporting as a new, major problem every instance of a small maintenance issue which has been occurring on airlines for years. Only now the news cycle has picked up on airline incidents, people are clicking on them, staying longer on those pages and the algorithms are responding by giving us even more of this not-at-the-level-of-news type of news. A badly written article talking about Boeing's problem with the skin peeling on their A350s. There does not seem to be the resources or enough professional interest to get the facts right before the article goes out. And often the incorrect are more sensational pieces which drive more eyeballs and longer reads eliminating the incentive to change any overview process that may exist but does not work well.

AsiaTravel2019

In the last 6 years, I've flown hundreds of thousands of miles all over the world on probably 20 airlines.

I feel safest on US airlines. Yes, the food sucks and the cabin crew are sometimes grouchy, but the FAA is strict and the pilots highly trained.

I recently flew SFO to MNL on UA and my biggest concern was the sundae cart wasn't as good as AA's on DEL to JFK a few months earlier.

ContinentalFan

Just so you know, worldwide over 600 people die a year in accidents with toasters. How was your breakfast? 😉

physioprof

At least 3 million people currently die every year in the United States, and approximately ZERO of them die in commercial plane crashes. The incremental risk of death imposed by getting on United plane versus staying on the ground is infinitesimal.

Repooc17

I don't know if we can rule out anything. Hopefully investigations will provide some more insights on any exceptions.

iluv2fly

I feel safer on United than I do walking the streets of Chicago.