I recently had to face up to a whether I would fly Bangkok-Accra-Lome-Lagos-Bangkok using Ethiopian via Addis Ababa. I was unable to find out details of Ethiopian and it's service and safety record from either my Travel Agent or Via a request here in the SLF forum or the Africa forum. So in the end, I spent more money and indeed felt more comfortable flying Swiss Air via Zurich.
These days in the developed world you are fortunate that you can choose airlines. There is a good choice from certain hubs in the developing world to various destinations. I am thinging of my base of BKK were I can fly to LHR on 5 carriers. SYD on 4 carriers. How about a necessary flight from say Phnom Phen to Vientiane? I have a choice of either Royal Air Cambodge or Lao Aviation. There is a 3rd choice of a long flight by Thai via BKK? What do I do as a self employed businessman? Time is costly. My choice in this case was to fly Lao Aviation. The reason. I didn't feel secure with RAC. Not just yet. Maybe in time I'll feel more comfortable.