Originally Posted by Will91

I know airline travel is safe. Anyone can realize that by looking at the statistics. On the other hand, outsourced maintenance has only built up steam in the past few years as far as I understand. Maybe the favorable statistics to date were because of in-house repairs by airline employees. Let's hope things remain the same or better.

In answer to your other questions, I only fly maybe once or twice a year. I own a Japanese built car simply because I believe it is built much better than comparitively priced American cars. If I had to pay even $100 more for a ticket and know every mechanic that touched that plane had an FAA license, was directly employed by the airline, and legally resided in the USA, I would do it. Mind you, I am not prejudiced that foreign workers can not do an equivalent job, I am concerned about security, FAA and airline oversight, and whether they take a personal "ownership" for the job they do.

I'm sure my question on this board may have seemed "odd" to some. I'm sure most passengers just book the cheapest fare without any consideration of an airline's reputation - much less reading about outsourcing issues. I appreciate that everyone here has been most gracious and generous with their input, but rest assured that my true motivitation for these concerns in purely rooted in the love I have for my family.