The why, when and how of KAYAK’s aircraft filter.
It’s not every day that we get to talk about a specific filter on our site (just that we have a bunch of them and they’re awesome). But in light of recent airline events, our aircraft filter, which allows you to include or exclude certain aircraft models, is worthy of the spotlight.
Generally speaking, most people aren’t all that interested in what kind of plane they’re on – unless of course, a certain model continues to have headline-making safety issues. Which was the case back in 2019, when we first launched the KAYAK Aircraft filter. Our users found it helpful and it probably gave them some peace of mind.
Fast forward to 2024 and a slew of new safety-related incidents hit the news again. Now our aircraft filter, which had been gathering dust for the most part, is once again getting some attention.
“While the overall fraction of users filtering the 737 remains small, usage increased following the Alaska Airlines incident in January (15x compared to month prior from a low baseline), and it has since decreased until this past week (to 10x compared to Dec 2023).”* – Steve Hafner, KAYAK CEO
The TLDR: People are still searching for flights and, despite recent events, they don’t seem to be slowing down. But, we are seeing signals of travelers wanting to avoid certain models. Each time there’s a news event, we tend to see a spike in usage on our filter.
Want to try it?
To use it, simply head to our site and start a flight search. Look at the filter options for “Aircraft” and you can choose whether to include – or exclude – certain airplane models from your search. We’ll automatically update results based on your preferences. Easy peasy. When safety incidents occur, you may find it higher up on the sidebar (we did this in January) and as interest starts to fade (like now-ish), you may find it further down the list.
So whether you’re invested in a particular type of aircraft or adamant about getting free Wifi, KAYAK searches hundreds of travel sites and helps you plan any trip, any way you want it.
*Methodology: KAYAK considered US flight searches on KAYAK from 12/1/23 – 3/12/24 where users utilized KAYAK’s aircraft filter for all 737 models.
