loewy,
Flying in an ETOPS aircraft can also be thought of being safer than some of the 3/4 engine brothers.....
3/4 engine aircraft always have more engines, however they do not need to meet the requirements for additional fire protection and oyxgen that an ETOPS aircraft has.
For example a 747 may have a 30 minutes fire suppression system installed in the cargo bay, where as a 767ER may have a 180 minute system in it to meet the ETOPS requirements.
Boeing and Airbus are both pushing for LROPS, a set of standards for all long range operations regardless of the number of engines.
ETOPS aircraft normally have better trend monitoring of the whole aircraft, not just the engines, which most ETOPS operators have noticed has actually reduced their maintenance bills and increased dispatch relaibility. So some airlines are going ETOPS manitenance even on non-ETOPS aircraft, as the cost benifit is justified.