How to tell if you're flying on a Boeing 737 MAX

The United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority has just banned the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft access to the country's airspace, joining aeronautical entities from Singapore, China, Australia, South Korea and Malaysia.

It follows Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302 on Sunday, which killed 157 people on board.

Tui Airways and Norwegian are the two largest operators of the 737 MAX in the UK.

If you have booked a flight, you have several ways to know which plane you will fly on.

How to know the plane on which you will fly

All modern aircraft flying on commercial routes will usually be built by a handful of companies, most often Boeing or Airbus.

The two largest planners, based in Chicago and Toulouse respectively, account for nearly 90 percent of the world's commercial aircraft, while smaller producers include Embraer from Brazil and Bombardier from Canada.

Each company produces a range of aircraft types, under which there are different variants with modifications or additions.

For example, Boeing has been manufacturing the 737 narrow-body aircraft since the 1960s, but has improved variants over time, such as the 737 MAX, aircraft involved in the recent crash of Ethiopian Airlines and the aircraft shot down from Lion Air in Indonesia. year.

Some planes are more popular than some airlines: Emirates has a large fleet of A380s, Ryanair's workhorse is the Boeing 737-800 and British Airways has the largest Boeing 747 fleet in the world.

When you book with an airline, the plane is often detailed on the booking page or via e-ticket confirmation. Otherwise, you can contact the airline directly and it should be able to help you.

SeatGuru lists the configurations of more than 1,000 aircraft. It has a convenient tool allowing you to connect your airline, date and flight number, which will display the planned plane.

He will then detail the configuration of this aircraft for this airline, indicating many seats available in each cabin as well as seats that can cause problems, with a limited legroom or cooling water draft, for example. There are also user reviews and photos. SeatGuru lists 157 airlines and the planes they operate.

Seat Expert is not as user-friendly, but lists all the aircraft of the major airline fleets, with maps of the seats and comments on the optimal seats to choose from. Seat Link is similar.

Live flight tracking applications, such as Flight Radar 24, Flight Alware and Plane Finder, display aircraft on a given route, as well as live flight information. The registration number of the aircraft – the identifier badigned to each aircraft – is available to registered users.

However, it is not an exact science, and the aircraft can be changed before the flight.

How to tell if you are flying the Boeing 737 MAX

Depending on the size of the aircraft, there are some variants of the Boeing 737 MAX. When booking a flight with a 737 MAX, the confirmation will sometimes include the letter "M": the letters 7M7, 7M8 or 7M9 are generally used.

At the airport, the easiest way to spot a 737 MAX is through the distinctive wing tip of the aircraft, with fins protruding up and down.