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Comment by coolThingsFirst | Hacker News Reader

I love how it’s played like a minor thing but resulted in a cancelled flight.

It can be both at the same time, delaying or cancelling the flight can be much safer brand wise than the complaints and negative publicity, even if technically there is no significant risk.

It's common for people to complain enough to get free or comped stuff they did not deserve at any point. As the saying goes, the squeaky wheel gets the grease, that doesn't mean that's where the maintenance should go.

Especially after recent 737 Max incidents, people’s levels of concern are higher.

I don’t know how much a typical canceled flight is in lost revenue but I suspect it’s much lower than what Alaska Airlines and others are dealing with now.

> I suspect it’s much lower than what Alaska Airlines and others are dealing with now.

No doubt, given Alaska grounded all their MAX9 since Jan 5, and the FAA grounded all other MAX9 fleets the next day, they are still grounded to this day as far as I know (United has extended their cancellations to the 26th so far). That's some 170 planes not flying their routes or earning money.

Although the FAA has apparently completed their inspection of the initial batch of 40 MAX9s.

It can be minor but still cause a cancellation. It may be non-obvious to the immediate ground crew that it's trivial, and an abundance of caution is obviously ideal when it comes to flight safety.

I mean they’re starting to miss really obvious things after all it’s the safest mode of transport.

Just humans(meat) and a highly flammable jet fuel in a tube.

Even a short delay on departure for a UK to US flight can result in duty time limits being exceeded for the crew, which can result in the cancellation of the flight.

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