How grim can it get for Malaysia Airlines? Earlier this week the carrier announced that it's offering no-questions-asked refunds or postponements on all tickets valid for travel in 2014 — including previously nonrefundable tickets. It's a generous offer, and one that the airline no doubt expected many passengers to accept in the numb aftermath of its serial air disasters — Flights MH370 and MH17.
Indeed, of the 680 total air fatalities so far in 2014 — another large crash and this will be the worst year for fatalities since 2005, according to Bloomberg News — an astonishing 537 resulted from the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines flights. Who, at this point, wants to fly that airline? I do.
In fact, I regularly fly Malaysia Airlines and have two reservations on the carrier (one actually on a subsidiary) for later this year. With apologies to friends and family who regularly send me notes such as, "You don't need to fly Malaysia," (and to the publisher who wrote "no Malaysia Air" on notes regarding a future book tour), I have no more intention of canceling those reservations than of canceling my reservations on Delta and American for next week. The reason is straightforward: Air travel remains the safest means of getting from point A to point B. (Moreover, prior to this year's accidents, Malaysia Airlines had a stellar safety record.) It's a point that Tony Tyler, director general and chief executive officer of the International Air Transport Association, made in a statement this week:
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