Boeing 737 Max 9 Safety Woes: Loose Bolts Discovered on United and Alaska Fleets

The issues with the Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft continue, four days after Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 was forced to make an emergency after a piece of fuselage on the side of the plane blew out, taking one of the passenger side windows with it, and rapidly decompressing the cabin. 

The issues are impacting two carriers in North America—Alaska Airlines and United Airlines, both of whom have a fleet with a significant number of 737 Max 9s. On Monday, both carriers announced that they are now finding significant safety issues with the planes.

First, United Airlines said that it had found loose bolts on the door plugs of several of the Boeing 737 Max 9 planes during inspections. According to Reuters, which cited a source familiar with the investigations, close to 10 of United’s 787 Max 9 aircraft had already been found to have loose bolts, a figure that may increase as the investigation continues, and a high enough number to raise serious questions about the planes’ manufacturing process at Boeing.

Then, later Monday, Alaska Airlines confirmed that it had also found some “loose hardware” on 737 MAX 9s in its fleet.

“As our maintenance technicians began preparing our 737-9 MAX fleet for inspections, they accessed the area in question. Initial reports from our technicians indicate some loose hardware was visible on some aircraft,” Alaska said.

The findings from both came from inspections made by their maintenance and technical teams. Both still await “final documentation from Boeing and the FAA” before starting a more formal inspection process.

“When we are able to proceed with the formal inspection process, all aircraft will be thoroughly inspected in accordance with detailed instructions provided by the FAA in consultation with Boeing. Any findings will be fully addressed in a matter that satisfies our safety standards and FAA compliance,” Alaska said.

Flight schedule impact and waivers
While there is concern that the public will start questioning whether or not they want to fly on MAX 9s in the future, something that happened during the string of 737 MAX issues in 2019, both Alaska and United continue to cancel flights.

As of 8:30 a.m. PST on Monday, Alaska canceled roughly 140 flights for Monday due to the grounding, a volume that is expected to continue for the short term.

Alaska did put a flexible travel policy in place system-wide, giving those impacted the option to change or cancel their flights without penalty. For right now, that policy lasts at least through Jan. 9, but could be expanded.

According to FlightAware, United canceled close to 10% of its schedule on Monday, which amounts to more than 260 flights, a majority from the MAX 9 grounding. United said that it expects a similar impact on Tuesday.

United, like Alaska, has issued a travel waiver because of the outsized impact. Any United guest scheduled to fly on a Boeing 737 Max 9 through at least Jan. 10 can reschedule without any change fees or fare differences for new travel through Jan. 18. Flights can be rescheduled after Jan. 18, but a fare difference may apply.