Safety videos.. love ’em or hate em? Airlines have worked on different ways to get our attention for the crucial minutes of the safety briefing. Qantas last year launched a new video featuring real Australians sharing real activities and scenes from Australia. I loved last year’s video which I saw 40 times (yes I have that info recorded!). Apparently another 35 million people also watched this safety video aboard Qantas planes through 2016. Today February 1, 2017, sees the launch of the Qantas Safety Video 2017! I have been fortunate enough to have visited 14 of the 16…
Weird or Wonderful
Category Archives for Weird or Wonderful.
Expedia names US Worst Passengers-I say its time to Ban reclining seats!
Expedia engages GfK market research company each year to identify the passenger behaviours that infuriate others. This year, 1,005 US citizens aged 18 and over gave their feedback. The good news, which not many have focused on, is that 79 percent of people believe that “for the most part, fellow passengers are considerate of one another”. But this means 21 percent of passengers are gripey with rest of the public. Interestingly, the top three poor behaviours people encounter on planes, are unchanged from the 2014, 2015 and 2016 Airplane Etiquette surveys. In order of frustration caused: 1. The Rear…
Oman’s new safety video Vs Qantas: Imitation the greatest form of flattery
I have seen the Qantas safety video about 50 times this year so I know it pretty well. It features scenes from Australia to illustrate aspects of the safety briefing. For example, the seat belt announcement is made by a truck driver in his rig in the middle of the outback. Noticed the newly launched Oman Air safety video which features aspects of Oman has some similarities to the Qantas video. In their video, Oman passengers in a 4wd are fastening their seat belts and putting their bags on the luggage rack of the vehicle.…
Air NZ does it yet again! A take on Winter Wonderland -Southern Hemisphere style
Air New Zealand engaged Ronan Keating to re-write Winter Wonderland so it makes sense for New Zealand summer! The song is directed by Julian Dennison who this year starred in Hunt for the Wilderpeople (and before that Paper Planes and Shopping). Dennison suggests more and more New Zealand references (some of which won’t make much sense to people outside the country). Eventually Keating storms out… There is a happy ending though and the two end up composing a “Summer Wonderland”, a Christmas song that makes sense for Kiwis. Makes you proud to be from the Southern…
The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month
At 11 am on 11th November 1918 the guns of the Western Front fell silent after more than four years of World War One. 98 years ago, my Grandfather was in the thick of it. Turkey signed an armistice at the end of October 1918, Austria-Hungary followed on 3rd November. The German Kaiser abdicated on 9th November, 1918 and on 11th November, 1918 an armistice was signed and the war was over. Between nine and 13 million people perished in this war. Many still have no resting place. My Grandfather was injured twice in World…
The most beautiful proposal ever @35000 ft
Watch this very special announcement from a Qantas captain.
The disturbing image from the American Airlines Evac
Thanks to the proliferation of cameras, airline emergencies are increasingly being filmed by escaping passengers. Last week, an American Airlines Boeing 767 bound for Miami caught fire on the runway of Chicago’s O’Hare airport while taking off. The pilot aborted the take-off and evacuated everyone on board via emergency chutes as black smoke poured from the aeroplane. Twenty people suffered minor injuries. There is video of the situation inside the cabin: The thing that astounds me is how many passengers are carrying bags off the plane. You can see women with handbags, men with laptops.…
I love these Southwest ads with Lipsyncing Employees
I am a sucker for airline commercials. I like the new Southwest ones which feature their staff lip syncing. I do wish they were really singing! The one above shows the employees (Customer Service Agent Michelle and Ramp Agent Matt) seeing the ad they performed in for the first time! In this one, the podium dancers are Alphonso, Las Vegas-based Flight Attendant, and Melissa, Orlando-based Flight Attendant. Dallas-based, Southwest Airlines has been flying for 45 years. It now has 715 Boeing 737s flying to 98 destinations across the USA, Mexico and the Carribean. I have…
Stop the Plane- I want to get on
There are so many stories of poor plane passenger behaviour, that I now filter most out. This one from Beijing takes the cake! On the morning of September 14 at around 9.30, two passengers for flight CA1519 an Air China Beijing to Shanghai service, failed to board their aircraft by the boarding time. They then pushed past staff, marched onto the runway and insisted on boarding the aircraft. When refused, they stood under the plane with their suitcase in an attempt to stop it leaving. Check out the photos here: Police arrived and put the couple into five days…
Failed French hitchhiker Renames country ‘Nazi Zealand’
Today’s weird story is about how not to behave when traveling. I have travelled across almost every part of New Zealand multiple times and found NZers to be warm, welcoming and kind. When I was younger, I hitched many kilometres through New Zealand. The West coast of New Zealand is one of the remotest parts of New Zealand. There are few towns and not much traffic. I would never hitch in this part of the world as there are so few cars compared to other parts of the country! One small fishing community is called Punakaiki. The…
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