Originally Posted by
etudiant
Only a small fraction of the passengers know what model airplane they are flying on. Even the kerfluffle about the Max has not changed that.
Not sure about that. In our world of ubiquitous, instant communications and amplification by social media, many more pax seem to be paying attention to equipment type than was once the case. And it would be very hard for them not to be exposed to news about the MAX.
In the wake of the UA-191 crash on departure from ORD, there was a rather long period during which pax were reluctant to fly the DC-10. (Of course, there were other DC-10 incidents that contributed to the reputation, notably the multiple cargo door failures.) For quite a long time after the Chicago crash, airlines were removing DC-10s from the more lucrative routes and advertising "747s only" between popular city pairs. The DC-10 ultimately overcame the bad reputation, but it took a while.
I expect the MAX to have a tough time with public perception for some time to come.