It’s not even really a maintenance issue. This kind of thing happens all the time.

If it were not a Boeing and United thing, it would have never made the news.

If it was Boeing then it would also affect much more companies who use their planes but I just keep seeing United here, United there.

Agree. It could also be any other nature of emergency.

Most of the ‘Boeing things’ we’ve been hearing about have been maintenance issues. Even the initial blowout was a mix of Boeing and maintenance.

Exactly. I flew the 777 for a living. It's a tank. Extremely reliable, flies like a dream, plenty of power. I haven't flown the new generation 777 though and you can bet it's not as safe. Nothing Boeing makes now is.

I used to be a "if it's not Boeing I'm not going" pilot. I feel stupid now.

Airlines suffer the exact same problem. Greed. Boeing doesn't make the engines. GE does (or Pratt and Whitney). They are very reliable engines too. If they start failing in a specific airline, it's a maintenance problem.

Edit: also as comments started, this could be nothing but normal issues, haven't read the article. I stopped reading at "engine issues, including tyre falling off..." What??

You don't even have to read the article. Just click the link. The first bullet point of the summary states:

United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Paris faced engine issues, diverting to Denver and canceling onward flights.

That's all well and good, but emergency landings for any reason are the worst. At best, it's a huge inconvenience. I had one a few years back because a passenger was acting like an asshole, and it cost a full day of my limited vacation, so I'd really rather not have one even if the plane is safe enough for them to land.

Someone, somewhere, will find an email or voicemail or taped conversation including an order to 'disappear' John. One day, people will answer for that.

Makes me blood boil

Musician: United breaks guitars

United: Hey guys… this time it wasn’t us. It was Boeing

Boeing: No comment

Even with their recent problems, if you are driving any significant distance to the airport, you're far more likely to be killed in a traffic accident on the way there than you are on the airplane.

They have thousands of flights a day. You have nothing to be worried about. Not that it couldn't happen, but it's so beyond unlikely, it's not actually worth a minute of fretting over.

Kayak put in a filter for aircraft, at least on their desktop site. Might bring some peace of mind if you can filter out Boeing.

I hold a flight instructor certificate, or did before it expired.

I went to mechanic school.

I don't work in aviation anymore.

Yeah, so many of these incidents lately have been United incidents. The Boeing part is perhaps related, perhaps coincidental. But United is struggling hard with proper maintenance, it seems.