Air Canada has recently unveiled a new limited time safety video, which is a bit unconventional.
In this post:
Air Canada & Disney partner for safety video
Air Canada has a special summer safety video, produced in collaboration with Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. This will appear onboard approximately 90% of Air Canada flights between July and September 2023. The video features footage from Walt Disney World in Florida, and is intended to be part of Air Canada’s focus on the family travel experience.
Here’s how Andy Shibata, Air Canada’s VP of Brand, describes the motivation for the new video:
“Family is at the centre of why so many of us travel. Over the last few years, we’ve been focused on improving the Air Canada family travel experience with family-friendly policies, family check-in counters, and shared family benefits in our Aeroplan loyalty program. As we reflected on opportunities to bring more care and comfort to the family travel experience, we were inspired to add a little magic to everyone’s trip with the help of Disney. Our new in-flight safety video encourages travellers of all ages to learn about the safety features of our aircraft in a new and engaging way.”
Air Canada has had a partnership with Disney for years, with past collaborations including celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Walt Disney World Resort, a Disney-themed Maple Leaf Lounge children’s room, and a Disney and Pixar “Turning Red” special livery.
You can see Air Canada’s new Disney themed safety for yourself below.
For context, below is Air Canada’s previous safety video, which was introduced in mid-2021. That video is Canada themed, and highlights many of the beautiful places across Canada. I suspect that video will once again be airing as of this fall, once this limited time video is no longer screened.
My take on Air Canada’s new safety video
Air Canada’s new safety video seems… fine? It’s cute enough, but I guess more than anything, I’m a little confused. A few thoughts:
- The video gives 2014 vibes and doesn’t seem particularly high budget; that’s fair enough, since after all, this is just a limited time video
- I can appreciate how Disney is popular with Canadians, but I’m a little confused about the context for this; is Disney paying to be featured in a safety video that millions of Air Canada travelers will see, or…?
- Nowadays you see a lot of airlines with safety videos that highlight their home country (just as Air Canada’s previous safety video did), so it seems strange to instead highlight a company in a different country
- Maybe it’s just me, but you’d think that if this were a limited time video, it would be screened in winter rather than summer; Air Canada has a lot more service to Florida then, though I suppose the motivation is to get people to start thinking about planning a trip to Disney this winter
When it comes to safety videos that kids may enjoy, I still think Starlux Airlines has the edge…
Bottom line
If you’re traveling with Air Canada this summer, you can expect to see the carrier’s limited time Disney-themed safety video. It’s rare to see a brand collaboration in a safety video. It’s pleasant enough, if you ask me, but isn’t life changing. Personally I preferred Air Canada’s Canada-themed safety video, which should once again be screened on flights as of this fall.
What do you make of Air Canada’s new Disney safety video?
Honestly this is a top notch safety video for me. If I had my way it would be the ONLY safety video, not just a limited time partnership.
It's extremely frustrating that they'd simply introduce it for a limited time.
That was cute. Back from recent Europe trip. The kids loved the Virgin Atlantic dream sequence safety video the most.
Why would AC partner with a woke organization like Disney??
I caught this a couple weeks ago during a family trip to Vancouver from South Florida. I kinda wondered if this was a specific thing they were doing for Air Canada flights to/from Florida, but if it’s fleet wide, maybe it’s a collaboration between both companies to try and push summer travel.
Travel articles would have us believe that the theme parks are ghost towns this summer ;-)
I really liked the previous safety video as much as anybody can honestly say they enjoy watching safety videos. I fly quite a bit on Air Canada, and as a Canadian, I always felt that they did a very good job, showing the diversity that we have in the country above people and geography. It made total sense, and Was also a bit funny at the same time. The Disney video is just an infomercial...
I really liked the previous safety video as much as anybody can honestly say they enjoy watching safety videos. I fly quite a bit on Air Canada, and as a Canadian, I always felt that they did a very good job, showing the diversity that we have in the country above people and geography. It made total sense, and Was also a bit funny at the same time. The Disney video is just an infomercial and I hope Disney pay dearly for me to sit and watch a three minute advertisement which has nothing to do with Canada whatsoever. I get that many Canadians enjoy going to Disney and , that’s great. I hope they go back to the video which has a better Tyann to our country and less about selling the screen time to the highest bidder. If Disney wants to buy ads on the pre-roll before the movie starts, that’s great but for a Canadian airline I don’t think it makes sense .
I saw their new video two weeks ago and while initially amused, it’s nowhere as classy as their previous video highlighting Canada.
Weird how in their own safety video they don't show baggage being put into the overhead bins properly. Missed opportunity.
Ron Desantis will probably try to ban Air Canada now
You can enjoy this as you sit on board your delayed AC flight this summer :)
So far 40% on time performance. Go AC!