After a portion of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 jetliner’s fuselage blew out in midair minutes after the plane had taken off from Portland, Ore., on Jan. 5, the Federal Aviation Administration grounded about 170 Max 9 planes, causing airlines that rely heavily on the aircraft to cancel hundreds of flights and inconveniencing many passengers.
On Wednesday, the F.A.A. approved inspection and maintenance procedures for the planes, clearing the way in which for the grounded Max 9 planes to fly again.
Airlines said they planned to resume flying the Max 9s this week, and Alaska Airlines began using the aircraft again on Friday with a flight from Seattle to San Diego. Here’s what passengers should know in regards to the plane and their rights in the event that they wish to avoid flying on it.
Which airlines use the Max 9?
Of the 215 Boeing Max 9 airplanes flown globally, United Airlines operates 79, probably the most of any airline, and Alaska has 65, in line with Cirium, an aviation data provider. Their combined fleets represent about 70 percent of the Max 9 jets in service.
Other operators counting on the Max 9 include Panama’s Copa Airlines, Aeromexico, Turkish Airlines, FlyDubai and Icelandair.
Airlines generally share detailed information about all of the planes of their fleets on their web sites.
When will the airlines resume flying the Max 9?
Alaska said in an announcement that final inspections, which take as much as 12 hours for every plane, are underway. The airline said that it planned to bring the “first few planes” back for scheduled flights on Friday.
United said in an announcement that it was preparing Max 9 planes to return to service starting on Sunday. However, the planes “could also be used as spares” as soon as this Friday, said United Airlines spokesman Josh Freed.
Copa, which grounded 21 Max 9 planes, said in an announcement that it might be “steadily reinstating flights that had previously been canceled” starting on Thursday and returning to a full schedule on Sunday.
How can I tell if I’m booked on a Max 9?
Travelers can typically find details about their plane type once they book their flights online, either in the course of the seat-selection process or elsewhere on the airline’s website.
Passengers may have the option to search out the aircraft type on an airline’s mobile app, in the main points of their reservation after they’ve booked. For Alaska, this is accessible within the app’s “Details” section. Flight tracking web sites, similar to FlightAware, even have plane information if users seek for specific flights using the flight number.
But this is not any guarantee. Even if passengers know prematurely what plane they’re scheduled to fly on, that’s at all times subject to vary. Airlines swap out aircraft on the last minute, depending on aspects similar to weather and logistics.
What if I don’t wish to fly on a Max 9?
United and Alaska have each issued flight waivers due to Max 9 inspections that allow passengers to cancel or change their flights without incurring fees. Alaska’s waiver applies to flights through Feb. 2. “After that, guests can call our reservations team and we’ll put them on a unique flight without a further charge, which incorporates our Saver fares,” an Alaska spokesperson said.
United’s waiver is for flights through Jan. 28.
Airlines have various policies covering cancellations and refunds, which depend upon aspects similar to whenever you booked, how far prematurely you need to cancel, and what form of fare you’ve got purchased. Once the Max 9 waivers expire, passengers won’t have the identical rights to penalty-free rebookings or refunds for flights they opt to cancel themselves.
For future bookings, Kayak has created a latest filter that excludes Max 9 flights. That would often mean booking on a carrier that doesn’t use the planes. But on certain routes with a limited variety of carriers, that will not be an option. For example, Alaska is the only real carrier flying nonstop between Anchorage and Kona, on Hawaii’s Big Island. The airline has often used a Max 9 on this route, in line with FlightAware, a flight tracking website.
But experts suggest it might not make sense to avoid the planes, which have been under rigorous inspection.
“It’s not clear or rational why anyone would avoid probably the most recently inspected aircraft within the sky,” said the aviation analyst Robert W. Mann Jr., emphasizing that the Max 8 resumed flying several years after two deadly crashes that killed 346 people.
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