I thought I would share a travel related experience from this week.
In addition to being late for a flight, hungry, and creating the first Airline Stew, I had opportunities to hear multiple airline announcement styles.
First I know you are just dying to hear what this “Airline Stew” was. Well being hungry I pondered what would be the most filling free beverage to mix with the complimentary peanuts and pretzels. I decided to use virgin bloody mary mix which is essentially tomato juice with hot spices and mix that with the peanuts and pretzels into a pseudo stew. It was surprisingly filling and tasty.
As a traveler you have to be resourceful and MacGyver-like.
If you have flown on an airline you have no doubt heard (or ignored) the pre-flight safety announcements and demonstrations from the crew. The language is extremely important but usually the same content over and over. This week I had flown on multiple airlines. One airline followed the standard text while the other was relaxed and almost goofy perhaps to use humor to get your attention, make you relax, or just ad some fun. Lets call them Airline A and Airline B.
Airline A takes the standard just the facts safety demonstration and announcements. Sometimes these announcements are played on video like on Delta. Delta's In-flight Safety Video
The FAA required language is listed on Wikipedia Pre-flight safety demonstration
Now here is Airline B and their live safety demonstration and announcements.
“If you have an iPhone, iPod, and iPad we are impressed, but you must still turn them off now. That is spelled O F F – look it up in the dictionary, but don't Google it now.
If you do not turn off you phone and continue to text and talk we may have to return to the gate where the FAA will personally fine you $25,000 dollars. If you have that kind if money to spend you would have flown Delta.
In the event this flight becomes a cruise, please grab the flotation vest located under your butts.
If the cabin were to un-expectantly depressurize oxygen masks would drop from above. I said unexpected otherwise we would have called in sick today.
If the cabin fills with smoke, make your way to the nearest designated exit following the lighting on the floor. If a crew member approaches you naked please just ignore them.
The cabin lights are being dimmed, should you require light simply press the button with the light to turn it on. Pressing the button next to it with the picture of a flight attendant will not turn the flight attendant on.
Welcome to Salt Lake for those that Salt Lake is your final destination we welcome you, for those transferring to another airline – we don't care.
The aircraft has come to a stop at the gate – Now get out of here.”
Myself and many of the passengers were laughing but it had me thinking, was that the right tone for something so serious as safety, was it professional, did I pay more attention to the safety information. Perhaps some not used to humor or those that English is not their first language might be alarmed, insulted, or confused.
The adding of humor to these pre-flight safety instructions is not limited to US carriers.
Cebu Pacific FAs dancing
WestJet Funny Attendant & this one from WestJet
What do you think, should the business of safety instructions be a serious just the facts presentation or can it be made more relaxed and funny?
-Shaan
I’ve got to say, after several straight months of weekly air travel, I was on a flight with Southwest with a VERY similar, humorous safety spiel. Is it right? Did every single person find it funny? I’m not sure. However, it was a nice break from the usual and got me to pay attention. Reading your post reminded me of this. It also made me think about how every aircraft model is different and requires different safety procedures or safety equipment/exit locations. In the unlikely event of an in-flight catastrophe, being aware of these differences could be very important. It’s easy to completely ignore the flight crew after your first few flights, so having someone present the safety material in an entertaining way was more than just a welcome change, it improved my awareness of the instructions. I feel it was a win, but others may (possibly rightfully) disagree. Thanks for the story!
Yes, this was a Southwest flight. I was just a little surprised. They even said for one part of the instructions “yada yada yada”. I love using humor to catch people’s attention to a subject, but being too clever or informal could leave one not really understanding something that could be a life or death piece of information. I felt like I was at Six Flags roller coaster ride with Carrot Top telling me jokes.
I think they can have fun with it, to a point.
Virgin Blue (aka Virgin Australia) have done similar announcements and I think they’re great, as most would pay attention to this unusal presentation. Full marks to those airline companies who do this sorta thing. Thanks for sharing your story, Shaan.
Google/Youtube the Air New Zealand flight safety videos.
Some are hilarious (tasteful nudity and Richard Simmons – thankfully not in the same one); some are cringeworthy (Snoog Dogg rapping with a puppet).
Looking forward to the announcements on WN on the way out to LAS.
I had that same Southwest Airlines crew from Las Vegas to Oakland last night. The pre-flight announcement was almost word for word.
Personally I love it when they throw in a bit of humor, it lightens the mood and brings a smile to the face. Also people tend to pay attention!
Scott
Yes, humor is a great way to get people to pay attention to these. So glad you got to experience the humor delivery – makes up for not having assigned seats…
I also appreciate humor being used to get and keep peoples attention. But I think there is a line when you change the possible meaning of important safety info, omit parts, or use it to slam your competition.
-Shaan
Westjet does the same fun safety intro when departing from Canadian locations. They don’t change the content though, just the delivery. They also have a game with toilet paper..hmmmm.
Anyhow, it seems to work wonders, they usually get the attention of the entire plane. They revert to the dry boring presentation when taking off from American airports though. I asked why during the flight and was told that the FAA does not approve…sounds like they were either wrong, or “other American airlines” didn’t get the same memo 🙂
I think this is great! As long as nothing important is missed out, I don’t see a problem. Slamming the competition in a light-hearted way is fine, too. Is there a line there? If so, I don’t care, cross it.
I’ve been on a couple of flights where they hammed it up.
At one point before take-off during the comical safety announcements, the flight attendant said this:
Flight Attendant: “This next joke is for the PSYCHICS only”
[inserts silence]
Me: “Bwah-Ha-Ha-Ha-HAAAAAAAA! [I stand up and point back to the flight attendant] GOOD ONE!”
I just saw this rap version on a SAS flight. http://www.aftonbladet.se/webbtv/nyheter/inrikes/article13910899.ab
After landing in a flight to Boise/Idaho, the attendant gave local time, temperature and said the following: “…if Boise is your final destination, we hope you have a great time. If you have a connection flight, please contact me ASAP as you have taken the wrong plane.”
In another flight where we got a rough landing in Seattle (we bounced a couple times) the attendant said: “Please remain seated with your seatbelts fastened while captain cangaroo take us to a full stop.”
Humor IS necessary. If people cant laugh at a joke in a plane, they have problems. I’m sure they don’t enjoy the boring speech either.