Several weeks ago, I took connecting flights. On the first intra-Europe, the door to the pilot’s cockpit was open. At the second check in, I was grilled about why I was traveling,who I worked for,how long, what was the job description and more. So which airline was safer?

Stats are that they both were!

Here are a few items to investigate:

Charters?  NO Most insurance companies will not cover you on either a charter or private plane.

Code Shares: YES Code sharing airlines with US carriers are vetted by the FAA and the US carrier can be liable for its partners’ standards and safety.

Global Airlines? DEPENDS  The United Nations ICAO ranks airlines 1-10 . The United States rates 8 out of 1o by the way.

US gateways? YES If an airline is allowed to land in a US airport, it has to meet higher standards.

EU gateways? YES The European Union also publishes a list of unapproved airlines. We do not finger as the EU does.

Airports?  YES The FAA rates airports and civil aviation authorities around the world.

Having listed authorities on airline and airport safety, most of us will still go with our Frequent Flier program and its partners. But good to know if flying out of the normal routes.

Travel Tips from The Women’s Travel Group, specialists in solo and singles’ travel.

Some good sources for this article were Travel and Leisure and  CNN. Below are other sites to read.

http://www.roadwarriorvoices.com/2015/07/06/how-to-check-out-your-airlines-safety-record/

http://parade.com/273069/linzlowe/malaysia-airlines-370-how-do-you-know-if-a-foreign-airline-is-safe/