[richjdsmith]

I said the same to my fiancée. We have gold status on Westjet (Canada’s second largest carrier and it has a hub airport close by) and I just put in the cancellation on my westjet credit card and will use up the rest of my credit. They use predominantly 737-800s and 787s in their fleet. AirCanada, their direct competitor, has a significantly larger airbus fleet. I’ll start using them from here on out just to decrease my odds of flying on a 737MAX

[richwater]

Rationally, this is an incredible overreaction.

The probability of encountering something like this is so astronomically low, you'd be better off buying a newer, safer car because you're more likely to be killed driving to the airport to get on a 737 MAX.

[Pyramus]

> Rationally, this is an incredible overreaction.

It's perfectly rational to decrease the probability of getting involved in such a scenario even if the probability is very low. It all depends on the (subjective) cost of this incremental improvement to OP. In addition there is the benefit of being able to send a signal, and the associated utility is likely non-zero to OP as well.

> The probability of encountering something like this is so astronomically low, you'd be better off buying a newer, safer car because you're more likely to be killed driving to the airport to get on a 737 MAX.

What if OP already has the newest, safest car?

[dghlsakjg]

You are statistically more likely to survive by sitting in the last row of the plane. That has a much larger effect than plane model.

I see people saying they won't fly on Boeing planes, but I see very few people saying that they are rebooking all of their tickets to fly the last row.

If you are willing to take such actions around the model of plane you fly, do you take similarly drastic actions around other more statistically dangerous risks? Do you wear a helmet in your car? Do you book the last row whenever you fly? Do you take transit instead of driving a car? Do you avoid traveling to countries with elevated traffic risks?

I get the idea of minimizing risks, but picking the model of plane you fly on has such a small marginal effect.

[bee_rider]

Although we can consider strategies for staying safe during a crash, I’d prefer to just not be in a crash at all.

[golergka]

Your brain is not a rational machine, and its irrational fears will bring you much more suffering, on average, than an actual accident you could have prevented because of how rare the accidents are.

Therefore it's very rational to take great care about your irrational fears and feelings.