Nowadays many airlines use safety videos as an extension of their marketing efforts. Some airlines have new safety videos every year. Then you have airlines like Lufthansa, which have more or less used the same safety video for the past decade.
Well, there’s a major update (at least for those who fly Lufthansa frequently) — the airline has just unveiled a new safety video, and it’s perhaps the okayest safety video ever.
In this post:
A look at Lufthansa’s new safety video
Lufthansa has just introduced a new safety video, which coincides with the debut of its new Allegris cabins on Airbus A350s. Lufthansa will progressively be rolling out this safety video on its wide body aircraft (there’s no safety video on narrow body aircraft, as those planes don’t have screens, so instead have a manual safety demonstration).
The new safety video is roughly seven minutes long. Yes, that’s definitely on the long side, though that’s because instructions are in both German and English, so it takes a bit more time to cover everything.
The video shows people taking a trip, from the time they leave their home to when they get to their destination, with the flying part largely skipped. Instead, safety features are largely highlighted at the destination.
I can’t tell if these are real people with a green screen, if there’s some animation/AI, or if it’s a combination of both. You can watch the video for yourself below.
For context, below you can find Lufthansa’s previous safety video, which has only mildly been modified in the past decade. I’m sort of a sucker for the Lufthansa “jingle” at the beginning of the video, and I also appreciate how this is an old school, traditional safety video.
Lufthansa’s new safety video is… forgettable?
As mentioned above, we’ve seen a trend whereby airlines have increasingly put effort into making their videos engaging, in hopes that people will pay attention.
Air New Zealand started this craze, by frequently releasing hilarious or highly captivating videos, with a variety of themes.
We’ve also seen many airlines introduce videos that showcase their home country, since that’s an objective of many airlines (whether it’s just to promote tourism there, or because the airlines are government owned). For example, Oman Air’s safety video takes place around Oman, showing off the beautiful landscape.
Meanwhile Lufthansa’s new safety video just kind of feels like it’s missing the mark? It’s not terribly entertaining, and it doesn’t highlight Germany or any one other particular destination. Despite that, the video hardly shows anything involving an airplane.
Lufthansa isn’t alone in taking this approach, though I’m not sure I fully understand the logic. How do these discussions go? “Oh, I have an idea, rather than showing how to stow things in an overhead bin on a plane, let’s instead put an overhead bin on a taxi.” It all feels a bit arbitrary…
I guess on the plus side, the video isn’t offensive in any way, and won’t be unpleasant for frequent flyers. It’s calm, has nice background music, and isn’t annoying.
I appreciate how we’ve seen airlines try to create unique safety videos, but I think we’ve seen just about everything by now. Am I the only one who wishes we’d see safety videos actually shift to being filmed on planes again (or in mockups that look like planes)?
It also seems like if the goal is to make instructions easier to understand, using a plane might be helpful. Like, you’re not going to find the safety card to the side of your table at the diner, and you’re not putting on your oxygen mask in a gondola.
Bottom line
Lufthansa has released a new safety video, coinciding with the carrier’s new A350 Allegris cabins. The video is a lot more modern than Lufthansa’s previous video, which was screened for nearly a decade.
On the plus side, the video is pretty non-offensive in terms of visuals and sounds, and shouldn’t annoy anyone. At the same time, it’s rather unmemorable, and I’m not sure why airlines are so opposed to showing safety instructions inside an aircraft cabin.
What do you make of Lufthansa’s new safety video?
There is a simple reason why airlines prefer showing safety instructions via video rather than having the crew demonstrate them: it frees the crew to focus on other checks during taxiing. beside, I think the only way to truly grab passengers' attention with a safety video is to make it in a distinctive and engaging German style, something like Steiner's attack scene from Downfall would get everyone on their toes during the video
It's a safety video, not a Hollywood entertainment production. I prefer the way it brings across all relevant information. Other "fancy" safety videos rather distract than attract attention.
@neogucky: no, not all Germans understand English. That's a quite arrogant statement.
Agree prefer separate videos for different languages. The videos are simple but at least not distracting.
While I can make the connections between the non-airplane visual examples, I have to say that many of the other people on flights need to be shown this information in the same context as they will use it, i.e. images onboard a plane.
I don’t like the dual languages in parallel thing. Every German understands both and if they watch the movie it feels very slow to get the info two times. Many airlines split the languages so you can watch the one in your language and ignore the others.
Cracking up that changed the headline. I'm guessing you received some crazy/angry "click bait!" emails.
Glad to see that Lufthansa is focusing on the real issues
BORING! what a shame. They have such amazing crew, aircraft, destinations etc. None of which are represented. It’s slow and doesn’t evidently show the safety features of an ‘aircraft, particularly for first time/non regular fliers.
Low news days... Passionating.
The video is too long. It’s almost seven minutes
Yeah ok... OMG OMG OMG