[SimonS1]

How many times do people chatter and read papers during the demo – lots.

How many times do you hear the airline start the demo with – “may we ask you to stop talking so people around you can hear the demo” – few.

How many times do you see people talking on a mobile during the pushback and taxi – many.

How many times do you see people removed from a flight for this – never.

It is very unsatisfactory but airlines need to take a stand. If two German passengers are talking so loudly in WTP that you can’t hear the demo properly I would expect the member of crew to do something a bit more than look embarassed. It’s their responsibility, not that of other passengers.

[capetonianm]

I have twice seen passengers removed from aircraft after refusing repeated instructions from CC to turn off molbile ‘phones during taxi out. I suppose there’s not a lot that can be done after landing, but prior to take-off there is.

The first was on a Lufthansa flight, an obnoxious French man was given three warnings. Next, the ‘plane stopped, the captain made a short announcement, and a ‘Bundesgrenzschutzpolizei’ vehicle drew up beside the aircraft, steps went out, four very large Polizei got on, straight to the passenger, and he was ‘gently’ removed. His parting shot to the Captain, who was standing at the cockpit door, was : “I will never traver Lufthansa again.”, to which the reply was : “Zat ist korrect Sir, you vill be on ze black list.”. Applause all round.

The other was a woman in South Africa who refused to switch off her ‘phone because she was ‘waiting for a text.’

[esselle]

The mobile thing is bizare. I once asked a fellow pax to turn off his phone as we taxied out, only to be told to “f..k off”; when I pinged the crew call button I got a look for disturbing the crew! On another occassion, in similar circumstances, I was thanked in a loud voice as the pompous arse pax gazed at his feet. Is there a problem where crew are uncomfortable about exercising their authority?

[Bunnahabhain]

My last experience wasn’t so much chatting through the demo as a right good earbashing – on EZY, I was in a C aisle seat and a young couple occupied A and B afterwards. The lady immediately got stuck into her partner over whatever he had been up to the previous night and this carried on throughout the safety demo. I signalled to the nearby CC member doing the demo that I wasn’t the only one who was fed up – even putting aside the safety concerns, who the hell wants to hear their tiff anyway – but she did not react at all, in fact her facial expression was more towards what was my problem. So I took the law into my own hands and told the girl in A to [unpolitely] shut up – quite a risk all round as the guy was at least twice my size for a start, although I don’t think he had many of the high cards in the domestic so was probably weakened. However she carried on the rant throughout the flight, so I just moved as soon as we were released (another general bugbear with other pax, are they blind?).

By the time we landed the arms were round each other. Every cumulonimbus has an orange lining.

[SimonS1]

Esselle/Bunnahabhain – exactly my point, if the CC don’t give a monkeys why should it be left to paying passengers to step in?

The airlines should get a grip before it’s too late.

[MartynSinclair]

What changes to the safety briefing could be made to alleviate the problem: After all, its really not surprising people talk or ignore it, they’ve seen it all before and the airlines very rarely change the presentation.

[judynagy]

I am also able to mouthe the words to the safety speech on Continental, but talking during the presentation is beyond my comprehension.. Martyn’s comment is a good one – change the briefing. I’m thinking of two memorable ones; Southwest with their hokey-jokey live approach and Virgin Atlantic with a silly cartoon with great voices and sound effects They must be effective, I remember them both … kind of like a reward for listening, I get some humor.

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

IIRC, research published last year found that jokey briefs work very well the first time, then have a steep loss of interest curve, as the joke wears off.

If I were commissioning a brief, I would go for the shortest duration – I am soooo sick of seeing the girl lose her teddy bear and get it given back by a nice hostie – it just wastes my time and I resent it for being non value adding.

[HonestCrew]

SimonS1 and Esselle’s concerns are fully justified with regards to crew stepping in and asking pax to quieten down during the safety demo and most crew I’d say are happy to do so.
The point I made about awkwardness stems from the fact that I shouldn’t have to point out to another adult that they are being rude, inconsiderate to others and by paying attention to the demo is for their own good. Makes me feel like a school dinner lady on playground duty wagging my finger at a naughty child.

This job thickens the skin somewhat after several years, making dealing with the public (and this problem in particular) a whole lot easier.

As for making the demo more interesting, short of highlighting worst case scenarios with footage of past incidents, there is not a great deal that can be done, unless airlines go down the road of say Virgin, as JudyNagy posted and make the demo memorable for it’s quirkiness.

[LPPSKrisflyer]

The demos I tend to pay most attention to are the ones where real crew members are in the videos, animated ones always smack of cartoons and while I watch, I know I take less notice.

Of those I see fairly regularly SQ, QF, LH, NZ and TG are about the best of the current crop IMO. NZ create some fairly amazing ones.

The best ever was the last SQ one withdrawn a couple of years ago, I just found it addictive, maybe it was the music but I knew it perfectly.

[LuganoPirate]

Thanks to this thread I gave the last 3 safety demos my undivided attention. So much so that on the second flight, MXP – ZRH, the FA asked me if it was my first flight!!!

Nothing new in the demo, and in fact I realised there was nothing I did not already know from umpteen previous flights.

I did check the safety card for the A380 and B777first time I flew them and then checked to see exactly where the emergency exits are.

I suppose the latest change to the briefing I can remember is the introduction of floor lighting many years back. I do however keep quiet during the demo as I find it disrespectful to the crew and first time flyers.

[RichHI1]

I have to say I prefer the live demonstration to the videos. Unfortunately cannot say I always watch all of it though. Had a thought the other day, do I knwo precisely where the life vest is? Yes on an AA 777 I know exactly where it is but not on a BA 747 or an AeroMexico or TAM 777. Yet showing you precisely where it is (under seat…) could be useful. Maybe if the safety announcements were a little more detailed and varied it could shake us out of our complacency.

[NTarrant]

I would agree with Disgusted about the jokey ones. The Air NZ one is good the first time and okay the second but a bit yawn the third. Although it is well put together.

[BeckyBoop]

What about the Cebu Pacific approach of dancing girls and music everyone took notice and an internet hit :o) xxx

[MartynSinclair]

Perhaps a bottle of whisky for the best behaved person!!

The airlines employ sufficient creative marketing people. Crew uniforms are changed as cabin designs and flying procedures. So why not look at changing the format of the safety briefing, perhaps offer 100,000 airmiles/reward points if the idea managed to get everyone’s attention.

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