Qantas has proudly presented a new safety video that will be rolled out aboard its flights to replace the former centenary themed one that had been displayed since 2020. The new video features both airline employees and frequent flyer members, showcasing 14 destinations around the world. Produced in 75 versions and 12 different languages, it took 40 days to film.
“First and foremost, the video is about familiarising our customers with safety procedures and we try to make it as engaging as possible, in particular for regular flyers who might otherwise tune out”, Qantas Chief Customer Officer Catriona Larritt said in a statement.
Introducing our new Qantas inflight safety video. pic.twitter.com/hM7H30qySO
— Qantas (@Qantas) January 23, 2024
Despite the airline’s intentions of preventing people from tuning out, it seems the new video is having the exact opposite effect. At 9 minutes and 33 seconds long, X users were quick to point out the tediousness of the whole thing.
“Really not feeling this one unfortunately. So slow, long, tedious and boring I couldn’t make it through the entire thing. I pity the frequent flyers who have to sit through this video on a regular basis”, one user wrote. Another told the airline their marketing team is “disconnected from reality” and pointed out that, in this day and age, they “need a TikTok-length video” if they want people to watch it.
Others chose to make fun of the situation, suggesting that watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy, extended edition, would be faster. “I can see the cabin announcements now. «Ladies and gentlemen thank you for traveling Qantas. And we welcome you to Sydney. Sincere apologies for the delay due to our ridiculously long safety video having us depart Melbourne 10 minutes behind schedule»”, another user wrote.
Qantas defended itself on X by saying that version was specifically for social media and a “highly condensed” version will be actually shown inflight. But watching the shorter, 5 minute 59 second video the airline revealed in a press release (and featured below) felt just as never-ending as the “extended (…) for online viewing only” one.
Moving away from simply criticising, a lot of people were concerned with how uninformative the video actually is. Besides risking to quickly lose passengers’ attention, at no point does it even show an airplane or a cabin. “As a platinum one frequent flier, I’d prefer you just focus on, oh, I dunno, in flight safety during the inflight safety video? Why do we need a long video with all this added inapplicable information? Just opens up the door to misunderstanding and people tuning out. Focus on SAFETY!”, the most liked comment on X reads, while another wrote: “I love Oz don’t get me wrong, but just tell me what I need to know to get off this airplane…”
Airlines seem to be increasingly looking to diversify from usual instructions in attempts to better engage with passengers. Some succeed, some, like Qantas, not so much. In 2022, Brussels Airlines partnered with Belgian band Hooverphonic, who represented the country at the Eurovision song contest in 2021, to create a melodic safety video, which was very well received by passengers.
One of, if not the best safety videos ever released is British Airways’ “director’s cut” from 2017. Celebrities such as Sir Ian McKellen or Gordon Ramsey are seen auditioning in humorous sketches in front of comedian Asim Chaudhry, as Chabuddy G, for a coveted part in the airline’s new safety video, while simultaneously demonstrating the safety features and procedures on the aircraft. As the cherry on top, the video ends with Sir Rowan Atkinson displaying his famous Mr Bean mannerisms.
The video was such a success that British Airways released a sequel the following year, featuring more beloved actors, like Olivia Colman and Sir Michael Caine, in the same comedic, yet informative spirit.
While aviation accidents are a very rare occurrence nowadays, safety instructions, be it by cabin crew or through videos, are still vital. Japan Airlines’ straight-forward safety video has recently been praised for contributing to the safe evacuation of all passengers and crew after a plane caught fire following a crash at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport.
