John's final trip to Las Vegas March 2024

Terrie and I have gone to Vegas in the past, but now she won't get on an airplane... I wanted to go again, so I had to go by myself... had fun, but I won't go again

Before I went on this trip Terrie and I were talking about 'old' Vegas of 60+ years ago when her parents would drive from CA to LV and she would be in a casino (not gambling, she was far too young) and how meals in a casino were so low cost due to the restaurants being subsidized by the casino to get people to attend

That is not the case today... EVERYTHING in Vegas is expensive, including the fees added by the city... when I was making a reservation at the Horseshoe the web page was having a problem so I called the 800 number... due to being a Veteran the woman on the phone found me a $10 per night special rate... and the city tourist fees added $46 per night to the room rate (those fees, and the high cost of everything else, is why I won't go again)

Airport to Hotel in Las Vegas

There are 5 ways to get from the airport to where you are staying

-Ride with a friend who lives in Vegas (not an option for me)
-If your hotel has one, a hotel shuttle bus (Horseshoe doesn't)
-Independent shuttle bus for about $37
-Taxi... direct, and can be fairly expensive if you do not share the ride
-City CX bus for $2 (there is a bus stop 1 block away from Horseshoe
--I only had one small carryon bag with me so I rode the city bus

Dinner Monday at Guy Fieri Sports Kitchen in the Horseshoe Hotel where I was staying... I counted 22 TV screens in the 'sports' kitchen

My choice for a hamburger is Red Robin so I had fish and chips... 2 large pieces of fish (I think Cod) and more fries than I could eat

A good hotel restaurant breakfast value in Vegas is the MGM Grand Buffet for $32 - good selection and flavors

I used the Monorail pass to ride north in the afternoon and had dinner at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville in the Flamingo Hotel

As a 'new member' of the Margaritaville club I had a free appetizer... I chose chicken wraps that I took back to my hotel and put in the cold for the night

After dinner some more poker in the Horseshoe

I used the Monorail pass to ride north in the afternoon and had dinner at Cabo Wabo in the Planet Hollywood Hotel

I later used the CX bus to go back to the airport and flew home on Boeing 737-900

The 'all over Vegas' infection was not in the hotels and casinos... it was INSIDE a long list of medical facilities Fungus Infection so I went and enjoyed myself

After a Boeing 737-9 Max lost a door I read everything I could find about the incident and what happened afterward... I clearly decided that the inspections and FAA approval to fly again meant that I flew to Las Vegas for my scheduled trip (and I returned safely to post this information!)

The NTSB and FAA reports are that the 4 bolts were not replaced when the door was removed and reinstalled to fix a (cosmetic) problem

While none of the three used MY words of THE MONEY FORWARD CULTURE AT BOEING MEANT THAT QUALITY WAS NOT AS IMPORTANT the actions of Alaska Airlines and United Airlines and the FAA clearly show that all three do not believe that Boeing doing self inspections was working... so all three have put their own inspectors in the Boeing and Spirit plants to verify that things are done correctly

I did not add the HTML code to make clickable links, so if you want to read the newspaper articles you will need to do a copy-paste into a new browser tab

Notes/Links are in date order, oldest at top newest at bottom

My upcoming trip to Las Vegas is on Alaska Airlines... I am watching the investigation into the problem(s) with Boeing planes closely... and I am very concerned that 'several' planes have been found to have problems... I have trip insurance that I have never used before, and I'm wondering this time just how easy/hard it is to make a claim... I will have to decide in early March if Alaska/Boeing is safe to fly (or not??? - I am checking the news daily)

The facts:
A 'door plug' blew off a plane out of Portland, the pilot landed the plane safely... nobody was sitting in the seat next to the open doorway, so there were only minor injuries due to being thrown around when the big hole in the side of the plane caused turbulence

This specific plane had (3?) cabin pressure warnings in the days/weeks before this flight... each time the plane was inspected and no physical problems were found... so, the same way a dash light in a car can come on due to a defective sensor, the plane was cleared to fly (I presume with a new sensor, but I did not find any real details about what was done) and this clearance was given without taking the inside panel off the door plug to check the bolts... this was, after all, a very new plane and the 'presumption' was that everything had been inspected and passed

A door plug is a non-opening door that is bolted in a door opening instead of a regular door, when X number of passenger seats are on a plane instead of a higher Y number of seats, which would require a second emergency door be installed, Alaska has 64 more of these planes... The plugs are built and installed in 737 Max 9 fuselages by subcontractor Spirit AeroSystems

The exact inspection steps were not in any article I read but since the outside is formed to match the curve of the plane I will 'presume' that inspection is done by removing the inner panel to get to the pins and 4 bolts that are supposed to make a permanent mount (like the panel in a car door that covers the door lock and window mechanism)

The Alaska CEO is very angry with Boeing due to 'many' bolts being found loose... so now Alaska (and United and maybe the FAA) will have their own inspectors watching Boeing build planes... I did not click the link to go to the other article, but lawyers are involved to sue... I will guess to sue both Alaska and Boeing (and Spirit?)... with my opinion being that Boeing and Spirit are responsible, not Alaska

The door was found in someone's backyard, but the bolts are missing and may never be found

The speculation:
The NTSB never discusses an investigation until a report is issued... people who do not work for the NTSB have speculated to the press that an investigation 'may' be able to determine if the bolts were in place but loose and they vibrated out... or if one or more bolts were never installed

Either way, MY speculation is the contractor that builds and installs the doors is at fault... the plane that lost the door was only a few months old and Alaska had no reason to take a 'door plug' apart to be sure the bolts were properly tightened... so 3 things did not happen... (1) the contractor did not build and/or install the door properly and (2) Boeing did not do a proper quality inspection and (3) the FAA also did not do a proper quality inspection

One of the articles I read said that Boeing started declining when it merged with another plane builder and the 'bean counters' replaced the engineers who had been running Boeing ever since it started, and 'more/quick' profits became more important than 100% quality

Alaska CEO said inspection found loose bolts in 'many' 737 Max 9 planes
https://www.axios.com/2024/01/23/boeing-united-alaska-airlines-737-max-9

Alaska to send inspectors to watch Boeing planes being built... FAA 'may' do the same... this really SUCKS that Boeing has to be watched by other companies to verify a plane's quality
https://www.travelandleisure.com/alaska-united-airline-ceos-boeing-8548524

This says not sure if bolts were even installed... loose bolts in other planes
https://apnews.com/article/boeing-investigation-ntsb-safety-airplanes-d9e28fe1a11dafe4f639268504bdb85f

Alaska & United are very unhappy with Boeing problems... United 'may' buy non-Boeing in future
https://apnews.com/article/united-airlines-ceo-boeing-manufacturing-problems-4090ea6176ef59e382dd18e9522596bc

Well a big OOPS... this claims Boeing is at fault... and says FAA is now watching the builds
https://airwaysmag.com/boeing-renton-mis-installed-plug/

Alaska is flying again as of 1-26-24 - The Alaska CEO made one comment about 'many' loose bolts, so now I wonder if Alaska and/or the FAA will ever release a public report with an actual number... and if Boeing and/or the Spirit contractor will receive an FAA fine
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/alaska-airlines-has-begun-flying-boeing-max-9-jetliners-again-for-the-first-time-friday/ar-BB1hlNOT

More about the 'possibly' missing door bolts - article dated 1-29-24
In the article "couldn’t be determined how many people were involved with work on the plug door"
My thought - shoddy work and shoddy record keeping... everyone at Boeing involved with this door needs to be fired... their shoddy work could have caused a crash and killed everyone
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/signs-suggest-alaska-airlines-plane-lacked-bolts-when-it-left-boeing-factory/ar-BB1hpXVc

1-30-24 Talks more about 'money culture' instead of 'quality culture'
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/boeing-max-9s-start-flying-again-but-critics-question-safety-after-door-panel-blowout/ar-BB1htICa

2-6-24 FAA sending 20 inspectors to Boeing's 737 facility in Renton and 6 to Spirit in Kansas
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/us-faa-chief-to-face-questions-on-boeing-after-max-9-emergency/ar-BB1hRoOA

2-6-24 Test evidence is that the 4 bolts were never installed
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/boeing-plane-was-missing-key-bolts-from-door-plug-in-alaska-airlines-incident-ntsb/ar-BB1hSJzE

2-7-24 This one says photo evidence that the 4 bolts were not installed
It is REALLY too bad that the person taking the picture did not notice the missing bolts
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/4-bolts-missing-from-alaska-airlines-door-plug-before-blow-out-ntsb-report/ar-BB1hSLdB

2-22-24 The first firing... I hope there are more!
Boeing needs to find out who worked on the door and EVERY ONE OF THEM needs to be fired
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13110213/Boeing-fires-737-Max-chief-fuselage-panel-blew-Alaska-Airlines-plane-exposed-litany-safety-failings-sparked-30BILLION-market-selloff.html

2-29-24 I wonder if there will be criminal charges in the future?
I think every worker involved with that door needs to be fired... and maybe charged
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/justice-department-probing-boeing-midair-door-plug-blowout/ar-BB1j4IOH

3-4-24 I think a Billion is too much... but I was not there when it happened... However much the passengers are paid, the lawyers will get their share... My GUESS (I am not a lawyer) is that Boeing and/or Alaska will ask to have all of the legal matters consolidated so there will be one negotiation or court case
MOST of the fault is clearly with Boeing, but Alaska had 'air pressure' notices in the days before the door blew out and never discovered the cause... in hindsight the door was 'shifting and leaking' due to the 4 bolts not being installed and the 'mounting pins' were not enough to keep the door secure
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/3-portland-passengers-sue-boeing-alaska-airlines-for-1-billion-after-door-plug-accident/ar-BB1jgHPP

3-6-24 Is this a deliberate coverup, or sloppy record keeping?
https://nypost.com/2024/03/06/business/boeing-slammed-for-refusing-to-turn-over-records-about-alaska-airlines-blowout/

3-11-24 Boeing 787-9 problem (does not say Max version)
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/latam-plane-has-technical-problem-during-flight-leading-to-strong-movement/ar-BB1jGqId

3-11-24 and 3-12-24 More about the money first culture at Boeing
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/behind-the-alaska-blowout-a-manufacturing-habit-boeing-can-t-break/ar-BB1jGhf5

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/faa-audit-of-boeings-737-max-production-found-dozens-of-issues/ar-BB1jJmEw

3-13-24 Boeing quality problems lead to reduced deliveries
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/southwest-is-latest-airline-with-a-serious-boeing-problem/ar-BB1jLdVC

According to the 'preliminary' report this was crew error of hitting a seat control switch on the BACK of the pilot's chair, not a problem with the plane... and Boeing had issued a directive about the seat control cover in 2017... so as well as crew error it looks to be a maintenance error
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/boeing-tells-airlines-to-check-787-cockpit-seats-after-mishap-on-latam-flight/ar-BB1jUQzi

I wonder if all of this will really push Boeing to fix the quality problems?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/airline-ceos-seek-meeting-with-boeing-directors-to-address-production-problems/ar-BB1khxfa

I don't fly United... and I'm glad I don't
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/united-airlines-says-federal-regulators-will-increase-oversight-of-the-company-following-issues/ar-BB1knVXc

End