And another breakdown: this time it hit a Southwest Airlines 737-800 plane. The pilots had to make an emergency landing in Denver because a piece of the engine cowling had come loose. Once again Boeing was lucky and nothing happened to the passengers. Nevertheless: The company simply can’t get out of the bad news. And with every report you ask yourself: What if?
But can you, as a passenger, avoid having to fly in a Boeing?
If you’re not prepared to change your mind at the gate, you can’t rule it out completely. Airlines are free to spontaneously provide another aircraft.
However, it is often indicated when booking which aircraft you will be flying with. If the aircraft type is not specified on the booking page, you can search for the respective flight on the websites Swoodoo or Seatguru (English), for example; the types are listed there.
If you are already at the gate but are not an aircraft expert and are wondering what type of aircraft is rolling in when you look out of the waiting area, you can use the Flightradar website. There you can specify the airport and see all the flights that will soon be taking off from there. The aircraft type is there.
At that moment, the anxious passenger could of course refuse to board, but they won’t get their money back – even if the airline provides a different type than advertised. The airfare is for transport from A to B in a specific time, not for a specific aircraft.
So you can’t really rule out a flight with Boeing, but you can certainly reduce the likelihood when booking.