Your Choice: Cheap Airline Tickets Or Safety?

Southwest Airlines, long known for its low fares, has been fined $10.2 million for repeatedly flying several planes without the proper inspections for cracks in the fuselage. The required checks for metal fatigue were mandated after a 1988 incident in which part of the top of an Aloha Airlines 737 peeled off the plane and fell into the Pacific. One flight attendant was killed in the incident, and several passengers seriously injured. Generally speaking, the government considers such incidents as being bad.

For its part, Southwest says in a statement that "safety was never compromised."

Hmmmm.... I'm no aeronautical engineer, nor do I play one on TV, but wouldn't, say, a wing falling off a plane at 30,000 feet tend to somewhat possibly just maybe compromise the safety of the aircraft a wee bit?