The argument takes for granted that airlines that are the safest are also the most reliable in documenting their safety. The argument draws a general conclusion about how safe passengers are on different airlines on the basis of safety records that are each from too brief a period to adequately justify such a conclusion. The argument fails to address adequately the possibility that the average major airline has had a total number of accidents as great as the average low-fare airline has had. The argument fails to consider the possibility that long-standing and reliable records documenting an airline's degree of safety may indicate that the airline is unsafe.
Travel agent: Although most low-fare airlines have had few, if any, accidents, very few such airlines have been in existence long enough for their safety records to be reliably established. Major airlines, on the other hand, usually have longstanding records reliably indicating their degree of safety. Hence, passengers are safer on a major airline than on one of the newer low-fare airlines.
Of the following, which one is the criticism to which the reasoning in the travel agent's argument is most vulnerable?