SEATTLE — The travel website Kayak has added a new feature allowing customers to filter out flights on Boeing 737 Max 8 and 9 planes after a door panel tore away from a Max 9 jet being operated by Alaska Airlines at 16,000 feet.
The website confirmed it already had a feature where customers could filter out certain types of planes, however they moved the filter up and added the option to exclude the Max models after the filter exploded in popularity.
The FAA ordered that all Max 9 planes be grounded until they undergo quality inspections following the incident.
Boeing has come under an avalanche of scrutiny following the blowout, with the CEOs of Alaska Airlines and United Airlines, the only buyers of the Max 9 jets, saying they have found loose and missing bolts on the door panels of other Max 9 planes alongside other "discrepancies."
In an interview on the Today show, Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci said he is angry with Boeing over the blowout, saying "Boeing is better than this. Flight 1282 should never have happened."
By pure happenstance, no one was sitting in the seats directly adjacent to the door plug when it ripped away from the plane. Minicucci told Today there was a "guardian angel" watching over flight 1282.
The CEO of United Airlines has gone as far as to say the company will consider alternatives to buying Boeing's next airplane model, the 737 Max 10, which has already been plagued by delays due to certification challenges with the FAA.