Look alive!
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Backpacker et al, stats aside.. Would it really hurt you just to go look up, put down your paper and feign attention, during the safety briefing? It's only a few minutes. And you never know; while you are clearly aero-omniscient, there may be a complete tyro sitting next to you, whose life might be saved because h/she copied you, and watch the demo.
I just come back from a return trip 30' ago. I paid attention at the demo while looking around with short glances what other pax where doing. I flew with the poshest (!) airline that fly the route...
My observation is that very few people look at it. What I don't remember is where the crew demonstrating looking at? TO the ceiling or the pax. It would be very useful if during the demo the crew were repeating "plese pay attention this is vital if" during the demo if/ when few pax were not paying attention.
Rwy in Sight
My observation is that very few people look at it. What I don't remember is where the crew demonstrating looking at? TO the ceiling or the pax. It would be very useful if during the demo the crew were repeating "plese pay attention this is vital if" during the demo if/ when few pax were not paying attention.
Rwy in Sight
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I don't think it helps when the crew look, and worse, sound, completely bored at doing the safety demo. I fly predominantly with low-cost airlines from East Midlands, so appreciate the crew might be on their fourth flight of the day after six days, but still, if you don't appear to be interested in presenting the safety information, why on earth would people be interested in watching you? I always watch, not only out of courtesy, but because I know all the statistics at how much your chances of surviving an incident are if you watch the demo (plus as someone on the outside of the industry looking in - hopefully changing soon - I'm fascinated!) But I'm not the average passenger obviously.
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The original question still stands: Why does the SLF not look at the safety briefing. And my rebuttal still stands as well: It's the same every time, every company, every airplane, with the sole exception of the exact way that you need to tie the life jacket and the exact location of the emergency exits relative to your seat. When you've seen five or more of these briefings, you've seen them all.
Obviously I can watch out of courtesy or to set a good example to the bloke next to me, but the point of the brief is to aid my survival in case of a crash, not to be courteous or aid the blokes survival. (He's responsible for his own behaviour, as far as I am concerned. I wil however keep quiet and not rustle my paper while the brief lasts, so I do not distract any passenger who might be watching.)
One additional factor was added by finding_nema: In a lot of cases the crew just seems to be even more bored with the safety brief than the passengers are.
Any other factors and remedies?
Obviously I can watch out of courtesy or to set a good example to the bloke next to me, but the point of the brief is to aid my survival in case of a crash, not to be courteous or aid the blokes survival. (He's responsible for his own behaviour, as far as I am concerned. I wil however keep quiet and not rustle my paper while the brief lasts, so I do not distract any passenger who might be watching.)
One additional factor was added by finding_nema: In a lot of cases the crew just seems to be even more bored with the safety brief than the passengers are.
Any other factors and remedies?
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Backpacker,
Sorry but that is the most self centred and stupidist comment i have personally ever heard.
We all have a duty of care to everybody around us whether we like it or not.
It has been proven in stressful situations that people will act like sheep and will follow the herd.
So if you have read and understood the demonstration that will not only help yourself but you may in the end help those who couldnt be arsed to watch or read the safety card.
I truly hope that you, the people and crew around you and the aircraft never ever have to put the words into practice.
259
Keep up the very very good work guys an girls.
Sorry but that is the most self centred and stupidist comment i have personally ever heard.
We all have a duty of care to everybody around us whether we like it or not.
It has been proven in stressful situations that people will act like sheep and will follow the herd.
So if you have read and understood the demonstration that will not only help yourself but you may in the end help those who couldnt be arsed to watch or read the safety card.
I truly hope that you, the people and crew around you and the aircraft never ever have to put the words into practice.
259
Keep up the very very good work guys an girls.
Hippopotomonstrosesquipidelian title
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As a SLF, I do take note of where all the nearby exits are, and how they open, and how I'll get there if I can't see them (it's not just smoke: I'm blind as a bat without my specs on). I figure, if anyone's faffing around with a door that I need to be on the other side of, I'm going to get that sucker open :-) I look at the card, too.
But I also think some of the demonstrations border on pantomime-like, and so are not taken seriously. It might be worth making the first use of the in-seat entertainment system show a safety video with a "yes, I understand" button between scenes. The technology's there on the newer systems.
But I also think some of the demonstrations border on pantomime-like, and so are not taken seriously. It might be worth making the first use of the in-seat entertainment system show a safety video with a "yes, I understand" button between scenes. The technology's there on the newer systems.
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rjay259
rjay259, the original question was "why does the SLF (or at least, a good portion of it) not watch the safety briefing". I, as an average SLF, am trying to explain here why I don't watch it. What my personal considerations are for not watching it, or not watching it as attentively as you perhaps think I should. I'm trying to explain that, under the assumption that my opinion might be true for a lot of fellow passengers.
I do this voluntarily, not to criticise here or just make an ass out of myself, but to have an open and honest discussion which might help you to improve the briefing to a point where it might be interesting enough for more passengers to pay attention to it. (Perhaps too ambitious, I know, but oh well...)
If you think I'm just being self centered and stupid then you need to consider that your opinion might be applicable to 90% of your passengers. Not a good basis for an open discussion, I'd say. In fact, if you apparently consider 90% of the people you work with daily "stupid" perhaps I should suggest a different line of work...?
And as for caring for everybody around you goes... Yes, if there is a true emergency I will try and take care of the bloke next to me if he appears to be completely helpless and I can help him without endangering my own life anymore than it already is. And if I need to hand him his cup of coffee during the meal service I'd be glad to oblige as well. But as long as we're just sort of preparing for an emergency which will almost 100.00% sure will never happen, during the safety brief, I fully consider it his own responsibility to watch or not to watch. That means that I'm not going to take deliberate action to encourage (or discourage) him to watch.
Exception: If the bloke next to me happens to be a kid, or a nervous first-time flyer or otherwise very inexperienced in flying, and happens to be looking outside instead of inside when the brief starts, I might just nudge him to point out that they're starting the brief. But the scheduled flights I'm typically on, 90% (or more) is frequent flyer and really doesn't need my help in deciding whether to watch the brief or not.
So the short version. If you want a discussion here about what apparently a lot of people (including myself) find an important subject, you're welcome to do so. If all you want is to whine about me and my fellow passengers being stupid, well, then there are a lot of other fora I can go to.
I do this voluntarily, not to criticise here or just make an ass out of myself, but to have an open and honest discussion which might help you to improve the briefing to a point where it might be interesting enough for more passengers to pay attention to it. (Perhaps too ambitious, I know, but oh well...)
If you think I'm just being self centered and stupid then you need to consider that your opinion might be applicable to 90% of your passengers. Not a good basis for an open discussion, I'd say. In fact, if you apparently consider 90% of the people you work with daily "stupid" perhaps I should suggest a different line of work...?
And as for caring for everybody around you goes... Yes, if there is a true emergency I will try and take care of the bloke next to me if he appears to be completely helpless and I can help him without endangering my own life anymore than it already is. And if I need to hand him his cup of coffee during the meal service I'd be glad to oblige as well. But as long as we're just sort of preparing for an emergency which will almost 100.00% sure will never happen, during the safety brief, I fully consider it his own responsibility to watch or not to watch. That means that I'm not going to take deliberate action to encourage (or discourage) him to watch.
Exception: If the bloke next to me happens to be a kid, or a nervous first-time flyer or otherwise very inexperienced in flying, and happens to be looking outside instead of inside when the brief starts, I might just nudge him to point out that they're starting the brief. But the scheduled flights I'm typically on, 90% (or more) is frequent flyer and really doesn't need my help in deciding whether to watch the brief or not.
So the short version. If you want a discussion here about what apparently a lot of people (including myself) find an important subject, you're welcome to do so. If all you want is to whine about me and my fellow passengers being stupid, well, then there are a lot of other fora I can go to.
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Bushfiva
Very nice idea, to use the entertainment system to force people to acknowledge "I understand". However, I have suffered from too many of these mandatory computer-based classes on business ethics and the like to know that after a few, you just click through the "I understand/agree" buttons as fast as you can (or are allowed to) to get it over with. That is, if the safety brief would essentially remain identical, just delivered through the entertainment system instead of live. And what do you do with passengers who refuse to click? Are you going to ground the plane until they do?
What I much rather would like to see, after reading your suggestion, is a "safety" department in the in-flight entertainment system which would provide me with in-depth technical and/or practical information on in-flight safety which goes much deeper than the 2-minute safety brief before take-off. So that I can expand my knowledge on this if the movie doesn't interest me or my book is finished. Perhaps in the form of a dozen or so five-minute videos which expand on the topics that are touched upon in the safety brief.
For example, a five minute topic on blood oxygen, hypoxia, time of useful conciousness at various altitudes, "cabin altitude" vs. "flight altitude", how a plane is pressurized (by the bleed air from the engines), the effect of inhaling 100% oxygen when flying unpressurized at altitude (prevents or delays hypoxia), why you need to pull the mask towards you in case of a loss of cabin pressure (so the valve opens), and what, at the same time, the pilots will do if the pressure is lost (steep dive to get down below 10.000 feet ASAP - that might be very unnerving if you don't know it's going to happen).
If you were to build each of these five-minute videos the same way, by starting, in easy to understand but technically correct terms, how a certain system in an aircraft operates, what happens if the primary system fails and what the backup system is and how that may affect the passengers, I think that a lot of passengers would take the time to watch all of these videos. And as a result be much better prepared for an emergency than the safety brief could ever accomplish.
What I much rather would like to see, after reading your suggestion, is a "safety" department in the in-flight entertainment system which would provide me with in-depth technical and/or practical information on in-flight safety which goes much deeper than the 2-minute safety brief before take-off. So that I can expand my knowledge on this if the movie doesn't interest me or my book is finished. Perhaps in the form of a dozen or so five-minute videos which expand on the topics that are touched upon in the safety brief.
For example, a five minute topic on blood oxygen, hypoxia, time of useful conciousness at various altitudes, "cabin altitude" vs. "flight altitude", how a plane is pressurized (by the bleed air from the engines), the effect of inhaling 100% oxygen when flying unpressurized at altitude (prevents or delays hypoxia), why you need to pull the mask towards you in case of a loss of cabin pressure (so the valve opens), and what, at the same time, the pilots will do if the pressure is lost (steep dive to get down below 10.000 feet ASAP - that might be very unnerving if you don't know it's going to happen).
If you were to build each of these five-minute videos the same way, by starting, in easy to understand but technically correct terms, how a certain system in an aircraft operates, what happens if the primary system fails and what the backup system is and how that may affect the passengers, I think that a lot of passengers would take the time to watch all of these videos. And as a result be much better prepared for an emergency than the safety brief could ever accomplish.
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At my previous airline, a LoCo from LGW, I had a purser that I didn't like very much, but her safety demos were excellent.
She always started with...
"For your own safety and those around you, we ask for your full attention while we take you through the safety features of this aircraft, so please stop talking, put your papers and books down, and remove your earphones.......
She would then look down the aircraft, and make sure that every single person was watching her - that's the whole aircraft - over 150 pax!! This often took quite a bit of time, I can remember standing at my demo position for what felt like a whole minute while she stared at a pax who was still reading.
Finally when she had all their attention, she said "Thank You" and continued with her PA
For me, it annoys me if a pax doesn't pay attention, but I have given up letting it bother me. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink! At the end of the day, I am standing right next to a door, and will help people as much as I can, but as soon as it gets the slightest bit dangerous for me, I'm down that slide!
She always started with...
"For your own safety and those around you, we ask for your full attention while we take you through the safety features of this aircraft, so please stop talking, put your papers and books down, and remove your earphones.......
She would then look down the aircraft, and make sure that every single person was watching her - that's the whole aircraft - over 150 pax!! This often took quite a bit of time, I can remember standing at my demo position for what felt like a whole minute while she stared at a pax who was still reading.
Finally when she had all their attention, she said "Thank You" and continued with her PA
For me, it annoys me if a pax doesn't pay attention, but I have given up letting it bother me. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink! At the end of the day, I am standing right next to a door, and will help people as much as I can, but as soon as it gets the slightest bit dangerous for me, I'm down that slide!
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Our demo is done by means of a video, with no actions required by the hosties bar pointing out exits. Generally a much better way of conveying the information - ie showing a real seatbelt being fastened, showing a life jacket really being inflated, showing the location of lifejackets and how they are packaged, as opposed to just pointing to them. Although, Im well aware of the flaws with the system too, but then, is there any system for conveying the information that is 100% effective.
I agree with the need to introduce the demo's appropriately. I was involved a few years ago in re-writing the "Non-required" P.A.'s (ie, not the ones that Civil Aviation Departments and the like require a standard wording for) and we came up with the following intro -
"Shortly we'll be showing a Safety Demonstration about this particular aircraft, a (... aircraft type, using full name, ie Boeing 777-200 ER, or SAS Airbus A320-200). You'll also find a safety breifing card in the seat pocket infront of you. We do of course encourage you to watch the presentation and read the card so that you're familiar with the safety proceedures aboard this particular aircraft. The demonstration is performed for the benefit of your safety, as such the flight attendants would certainly appreciate the courtesy of just a moment of your attention."
We found that this intro worked best as it
~as other airlines in the area rarely introduced their aircraft using their full titles, it caused passengers to believe they were on an aircraft type that they had not been on before.
~It puts responsibilty on the passengers to take an interest in their own safety.
~It implies that people who aren't watching the demo are un-courteous, causing more people to watch.
~Passengers are now very quick to redirect other passengers attentions, if they're talking, not paying attention etc, saving the flight attendants from doing it!
Of course, as with the actual presentation, no introduction is 100% effective.
I was on a flight recently where the aircraft returned with severe mechanical problems, shortly after take-off. After a two hour wait on the ground, we all re-boarded the same aircraft, and had to perform another safety demo. Ive never seen a bunch of passengers concentrating on the demo more!
I agree with the need to introduce the demo's appropriately. I was involved a few years ago in re-writing the "Non-required" P.A.'s (ie, not the ones that Civil Aviation Departments and the like require a standard wording for) and we came up with the following intro -
"Shortly we'll be showing a Safety Demonstration about this particular aircraft, a (... aircraft type, using full name, ie Boeing 777-200 ER, or SAS Airbus A320-200). You'll also find a safety breifing card in the seat pocket infront of you. We do of course encourage you to watch the presentation and read the card so that you're familiar with the safety proceedures aboard this particular aircraft. The demonstration is performed for the benefit of your safety, as such the flight attendants would certainly appreciate the courtesy of just a moment of your attention."
We found that this intro worked best as it
~as other airlines in the area rarely introduced their aircraft using their full titles, it caused passengers to believe they were on an aircraft type that they had not been on before.
~It puts responsibilty on the passengers to take an interest in their own safety.
~It implies that people who aren't watching the demo are un-courteous, causing more people to watch.
~Passengers are now very quick to redirect other passengers attentions, if they're talking, not paying attention etc, saving the flight attendants from doing it!
Of course, as with the actual presentation, no introduction is 100% effective.
I was on a flight recently where the aircraft returned with severe mechanical problems, shortly after take-off. After a two hour wait on the ground, we all re-boarded the same aircraft, and had to perform another safety demo. Ive never seen a bunch of passengers concentrating on the demo more!
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Backpacker,
If I offended you personally then I am sorry but it really bugs me when i see people who travel "often" and assume they know what to do in an emergency.
When I work we go through our emergency brief every time we fly, so both of us know exactly what we are going to do. Thats just part of the job.
Even if people do know what to do maybe it would just be common courtesy for people to watch. Oh well.
I do like they interactive idea tho maybe ask a few questions at the end of the demo and wait to make sure all have answered.
259
If I offended you personally then I am sorry but it really bugs me when i see people who travel "often" and assume they know what to do in an emergency.
When I work we go through our emergency brief every time we fly, so both of us know exactly what we are going to do. Thats just part of the job.
Even if people do know what to do maybe it would just be common courtesy for people to watch. Oh well.
I do like they interactive idea tho maybe ask a few questions at the end of the demo and wait to make sure all have answered.
259
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Virginia, I find some of your comments on this and other threads so ignorant that I am wondering if your persona is a deliberate wind-up. 
Backpacker, thanks for joining the discussion. Always good to hear things from a different perspective. For people with your level of knowledge, the safety briefing is at best a refresher. As the research claims, the more often people watch the demo, the deeper the info will embed itself in their minds and the bigger the chance that they will react appropriately in a real emergency, thereby saving their own lives.
And that is why we FAs want our pax to watch the demo.
I sympathise when you say that you find it hard going to watch every time you fly. I commute by air between home and my FA job. Have done so for the past 17 years. The never-changing safety demo on our 737s is done by FAs rather than on video. Out of collegial courtesy, I watch it. But I have to force myself to do so.
It's in the thread title and has been confirmed by several posters; first commandment is that WE need to be seen to care.
To make sure I don't sound bored, I'm always varying my PA, so urok, I'll try yours next time.
Backpacker, thanks for joining the discussion. Always good to hear things from a different perspective. For people with your level of knowledge, the safety briefing is at best a refresher. As the research claims, the more often people watch the demo, the deeper the info will embed itself in their minds and the bigger the chance that they will react appropriately in a real emergency, thereby saving their own lives.
And that is why we FAs want our pax to watch the demo.
I sympathise when you say that you find it hard going to watch every time you fly. I commute by air between home and my FA job. Have done so for the past 17 years. The never-changing safety demo on our 737s is done by FAs rather than on video. Out of collegial courtesy, I watch it. But I have to force myself to do so.
It's in the thread title and has been confirmed by several posters; first commandment is that WE need to be seen to care.
To make sure I don't sound bored, I'm always varying my PA, so urok, I'll try yours next time.
