In the wake of several controversies associated with the Boeing 737 MAX in recent years, including an emergency door that came off mid-flight a few months ago, some passengers are refusing to set foot on it.
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This was particularly the case for American Ed Pearson, who was scheduled to travel from Seattle to New Jersey.
When he realized his plane was a Boeing 737 MAX, he got up and exited the plane, CNN reported.
“I looked at the airport and it told me it wasn't going to be a 737 MAX,” he explains. I went through security, went to get coffee. “When I got on the plane, I sat down and saw that it was indeed a 737 MAX.”
He got up to go out and was questioned by the flight attendant.
He told her: I want to get off the plane.
According to CNN, many passengers refuse to put their feet on this model of the plane, which was involved in two accidents in addition to the fall of the emergency exit door in the middle of the flight.
This is also the case for Belén Estacio, who has boycotted the 737 MAX since the January incident.
“No matter the model, I don’t want to travel with them,” she said. The Alaska Airlines incident is further confirmation that Boeing is not doing enough to address the problems.
Boeing is currently under investigation, including by the FAA and the NTSB regarding its safety oversight protocol following an emergency door incident on an Alaska Airlines plane that separated mid-flight.
A spokesperson for the multinational company told CNN that the company has “invested a lot of money in its employees over the past few years” while increasing the number of its engineers by 10% in particular, in addition to increasing the number of “quality”. “Employees by 25%.