That's an interesting idea in principle, but IME it wouldn't be as helpful as you might think initially. This is because airline choice isn't much of a market.

That's an interesting idea in principle, but IME it wouldn't be as helpful as you might think initially. This is because airline choice isn't much of a market. I live in a major US city (Houston), with excellent air service available in two airports. However, as with nearly all such cities, we are VERY VERY VERY well served by the carriers that "hub" here (Southwest and United). Choosing them usually means a direct flight, and more options for departure times, and probably lower fares. There are situations where choosing something else is viable, but usually only if you're picking an airline that hubs in the city you're going to -- for example, choosing Delta to fly to Atlanta, or American to fly to Dallas. The tl;dr is that avoiding the MAX from here would be hard without creating a materially worse experience. (Of course, crashing is an even WORSE experience, so...)