Both United and Alaska have begun necessary safety checks of the planes. During initial inspections, a United spokesperson tells Traveler, they removed two rows of seats and sidewall liner to access each door plug. In doing so, they “found instances that appear to relate to installation issues of the door plug,” such as bolts that needed to be tightened. United’s Tech Ops team is working on fixing the issues, the spokesperson says, with a team of five technicians spending several hours on each aircraft. Later Monday night, Alaska also issued a statement stating that “initial reports from our technicians indicate some loose hardware was visible on some aircraft.”
Until enhanced inspections are completed and corrective actions are taken, the planes will remain grounded.
This isn’t the first time Boeing’s 737 Max planes have been grounded by the FAA, as crashes in Indonesia in 2021 and Ethiopia in 2019 have also led to stoppages, Harteveldt says, noting that the agency also halted the Douglas DC-10 wide body jet in the 1970s because of a faulty cargo door design.
“The FAA doesn’t randomly ground aircraft,” he says. “It only does so when the agency believes there is a credible risk of an unknown problem, which the agency wants investigated and inspected as quickly as practical.” The swift action helps the agency reduce potential issues and “provides the possibility for a faster and more thorough inspection of the affected aircraft,” Harteveldt adds.
How can I find out if my flight is scheduled on a 737 Max 9?
To see what kind of aircraft your upcoming flight is on, most airlines list the model under flight information. For United, the information can be accessed via the United app by toggling the “Flight Details” tab or by looking under “Flight Info” on your trip details page on united.com. For Alaska, the info is under the “Details” section of the app. Flight tracking sites FlightAware also provides aircraft details on the right side of the page.
While it may be daunting to board an aircraft with safety concerns, Harteveldt says that once the Boeing 737 Max 9s return to service, “Travelers should feel confident that the planes are safe following their inspections.”
“Part of the NTSB and FAA’s investigations into the Alaska aircraft that experienced the problem will be to determine whether this was an aberration, and isolated to this individual aircraft, or whether it’s a more systemic problem,” Harteveldt tells Traveler.
As for the future of the Boeing 737 Max 9s, the manufacturer—which will be holding a company-wide safety meeting Tuesday—itself is fully in agreement with the FAA’s actions. “We agree with and fully support the FAA’s decision to require immediate inspections of 737-9 airplanes with the same configuration as the affected airplane,” a Boeing spokesperson tells Traveler. “Safety is our top priority and we deeply regret the impact this event has had on our customers and their passengers.”
