Direct access...
We flew on Kenya Airways last month and the first time a "Direct access...blah2 blah blah message came on to say belt up. My (v. nervous pax) wife nearly had a heart attack.
She did not calm down until about ten minutes later when a real human voice announce that the (minor) turbulance had passed.
Her theory was thatautomated messages are made in emergencies...
I can understand that its faster to press a button to deliver a message, but think it is sloppy practice, leading to poor communication to leave the "Direct access message..." bit in. It conveys no useful information to the majority on board - the passengers and leads to people saying what was that? an hence talking over the real content.
Is there a certification reason for the direct access preamble or are the airlines just too tight fisted to record proper messages?
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Edited to correct this to Kenya instead of Kenyan