American Airlines is finally starting the process of rolling out its new safety video, roughly three years behind schedule.
In this post:
American Airlines’ new safety video
American Airlines was supposed to introduce a new safety video in March 2020, coinciding with the launch of new employee uniforms. However, due to the pandemic, the airline made the decision to delay its new safety video. I’m not sure I totally understand the logic of why it was delayed for so long, but that’s the situation.
Well, that’s about to change. As reported by @xJonNYC, American will be ringing in the new year by finally screening its new safety video onboard flights. While this should start to happen in the coming days, you might still see the old safety video on some flights for a few more months.
Also keep in mind that a vast majority of American’s narrow body aircraft don’t have televisions, and therefore have a manual safety demonstration. It will primarily be passengers on wide body jets who see this video.
You can see the new video for yourself below, which you can expect to see onboard flights in the coming days.
Then below you can find the previous safety video, which is being screened through the end of 2022.
My thoughts on the new safety video
Nowadays many airlines put a lot of effort into safety videos, (controversially) trying to make them humorous or attention grabbing. That’s certainly not what American is doing, as the airline takes a more traditional approach to its safety videos — there are no comedy routines or rap battles here.
So, what’s my take on American’s new safety video?
- I like that the video is visually interesting to watch and that it’s not annoying, in the sense that frequent flyers shouldn’t be bothered by it; the music is calming and upbeat as well, which contributes to that
- I can’t help but notice the extent to which employees are smiling in an over-the-top way; the smiles are just so big that it reeks of insincerity, in my opinion
- The video contains American’s new(ish) slogan, “We Fly So You Can Soar,” as we haven’t otherwise seen this used all that much
- Since this video was filmed around three years ago (and labor in the industry changed so much during the pandemic), I can’t help but wonder what percent of employees featured in the video are still at the airline
- In a twisted way, I’m kind of going to miss the “first things first, let’s buckle those belts” video, as I think I’ve memorized every word at this point
Bottom line
American Airlines is in the process of rolling out a new safety video. The video is only new in the sense that it will start to be aired soon, even though it was filmed roughly three years ago. I’m pretty sure Air New Zealand would ordinarily introduce half a dozen new safety videos in that time period. 😉
I think American’s new safety video is… perfectly fine? It’s non-offensive, and shouldn’t become too tiresome to any frequent flyers. At the same time, it’s unlikely to win any awards, or be too memorable.
Admittedly American’s safety videos are a bit less important to frequent flyers than in the past, given how few American planes have televisions nowadays.
What do you make of American’s new safety video?
In response why it was so delayed, pretty much every flight attendant you see in the video were furloughed during Covid. So it would have been tone deaf to have that video hit with all of those Stew on furlough. If you also noticed, the ones in the video are the FA pictures displayed on the inflight entertainment screen.
So not sure why the safety video is just not done on airplane with crew actually demonstrating everything on plane? Keep it simple? It's always so industrious? A simple demo in aircraft with crews? Before add team members saying hi...then actual aircraft for demo...would make so much more sense than to do it in a hanger...just my thoughts
As a retired flight attendant for Piedmont Airlines then US Airways and now American Airlines I noticed that the over Wing window exits were not demonstrated and this I think is a mistake
The window exits have never been on a video.
This particular video example was for a 787 aircraft. There are no over wing exits on a 787 aircraft. Thus no reason to demonstrate them in this video.
Very distracting ~ too many people / loss of focus. It doesn’t need to be dry or boring, but ‘trying to entertain’ isn’t effective either ~ somewhere in between would be more professional. It’s also not my ‘Honor’ to provide transportation to where you need to go, it’s my Profession. We are Transportation, not a ‘novel idea’.
So not sure why the safety video is just not done on airplane with crew actually demonstrating everything on plane? Keep it simple? It's always so industrious? A simple demo in aircraft with crews? Before add team members saying hi...then actual aircraft for demo...would make so much more sense than to do it in a hanger...just my thoughts
Well, hopefully they'll update the video with the correct slogan, which is You Are Why We Fly.
The selection of blue office chairs in the video infers that the passenger has more space then is actually provided in normal aircraft seating. It's an illusion that will be quickly discredited by passengers. And as a "team" member, it is NOT my "honor" to transport you from one city to another. It's a service you paid for and we provide. "Honors' are strictly reserved for members of the military and those personnel that protect...
The selection of blue office chairs in the video infers that the passenger has more space then is actually provided in normal aircraft seating. It's an illusion that will be quickly discredited by passengers. And as a "team" member, it is NOT my "honor" to transport you from one city to another. It's a service you paid for and we provide. "Honors' are strictly reserved for members of the military and those personnel that protect life, liberty, and property. (In my opinion.)
The only time you see all the AA-Donnas smile and being actually friendly.
Is having an old video really that bad?
I prefer the previous video by far.
I like the old one better. Tara had a very calming and soothing voice, and I will miss her (well I already do since so few AA planes have IFE anyways). Also, the music in the older video is also better (it consisted of sounds from the airport/airplanes). The old video was the right blend of origional and informative. This new one is so un-original, I guess just like the rest of the airline.
This is a less fun version of Virgin America’s safety video from a few years ago. The overuse of group shots smiling gives me a “Children Of The Corn” meets “Smile” vibes so I’m not a fan because it’s a bit creepy. Overall it’s a good informative video.
I didn't see the comment on the smiles until after I saw the video, but yeah, that was what stood out to me the most. It felt so creepy and awkward.
This video is awful! They’ve had 3 years to scrap it and start over. No excuses. The last US Airways video was much more modern, fresh, and professional. This video is a mess.
a big group of people raising their RIGHT HAND and scream "you" ... mhhhh i would say it is culturally VERY insensitive - replace the word bei something else and it looks BAD !
Miss leading the amount of let room on the example seat used in this video. WPW really wish we had this amount of leg room. Video mores too slow. Voice needs to speed up
and those seat look awfully uncomfortable.....hope they are just for the demo and not actually on the aircraft!
I really like the new safety video! Everyone looks great! Big Smiles!! Well done
I believe that they could have done a more appealing video. Good job for being racially diverse though.
"because great is we're going for"
I hope those aren't the new seats... They look like lawn chairs!
@lucky Did you see from the older (current) video, at the end when the two techs try to high five, then 'low' five, they miss each other. It just pretty much exemplifies the entire American Airlines experience.
Could there be a more boring and nondescript safety video? My neck started to hurt just watching all of the employees staring up into the sun. I flew for 31 years as a FA for AA and the safety videos were always dull and uninteresting, some worse than others, and it seemed to take an eternity for AA to produce a new one. Delta seemed to come up with a fresh version every few years...
Could there be a more boring and nondescript safety video? My neck started to hurt just watching all of the employees staring up into the sun. I flew for 31 years as a FA for AA and the safety videos were always dull and uninteresting, some worse than others, and it seemed to take an eternity for AA to produce a new one. Delta seemed to come up with a fresh version every few years and even had some holiday-themed versions while AA's videos seemed to have a shelf life of 10+ years with the one from the late 80s and into the 90s looking like it was filmed with a home video camera. It was sad to watch the transformation after America West and US Airways took over and the new management decided it would be so much fun to rip out the seat back video screens that AA had finally started installing on narrow bodies in the early 2010s. The only upside to this terrible decision is that only passengers on wide bodies will be subjected to this.
https://youtu.be/8_2HKEBDRJI?t=79
Nice video. Just wondering if that's how the future coach seats would look like
My thought, too. The "improvement" of an Oasis cabin: slimmer slim-line seats.
Haha yeah, I was thinking the same thing about the seats. Not only do they look like cheap office chairs, they're also very UA-like.
It's so nice to see they check off all the inclusivity boxes. How caring of them.
Hi David!
Feel free to let AA know that in the future you demand an all white male cast for the safety videos.
OR let them know who, specifically, you hate, and let them know that they'll need to exclude those people in the future so as not to upset your delicate, racist, snowflake sensibilities.
Wow, Willy, talk about being triggered by a harmless post. Who is the snowflake here? Your post is full of racism ("all male cast"), hate and resentment. Calm down and learn to live with diversity of opinions.
Hi Regis!
LOL! Deep breath, sweetie, deep breath! It gets better!
Checked all boxes except nary a flight attendant over 35, if that, rich since the majority of our flight attendants are 50+
Boring, cringy and uninspiring. Since when is our slogan we fly so you can soar? Ugh!
My favorite safety video. Sorry for the poor audio.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5zORD2kd3I
OMG FABULOUS ! thanks for the grin
I’m so glad I’m not flying anymore. I’m retired flight attendant. Lotta uneducated people flying nowadays they think of being on a flight once or twice they’re experts
https://youtu.be/fPoZwQvFjvs
The Lebanese airlines MEA safety video.
Wonderful
It's as if the Stepford Wives *and* their husbands got together and made a four-minute video of the creepiest things they could think of doing; fake smiling for way too long, quarter-turns en masse for no apparent reason, etc. Are we sure this isn't the AA Halloween safety video?
The only good part is Hot Pilot at the 4.03 mark. Unfortunately he is given no speaking role, and he keeps his clothes on for the entire video.
How superficial and perverse. Totally disrespectful to objectify a pilot as some kind of meat for your pleasure
So you're suggesting he's not meat for my pleasure?
Ok gaga - get over it. Agree completely with @TravelinWilly
I could not find any pilot at 4:03 in either video
It’s like a copycat show from other videos of the past:
1. The hangar and non-real seat use is straight from Virgin America’s safety video
2. The “using people to build the logo” shtick is from Ed Bastian’s first intro video when he became CEO of Delta
3. The intro of spinning through different team members is parallel to…American’s own videos of the past
Nothing about this is original, and they don’t...
It’s like a copycat show from other videos of the past:
1. The hangar and non-real seat use is straight from Virgin America’s safety video
2. The “using people to build the logo” shtick is from Ed Bastian’s first intro video when he became CEO of Delta
3. The intro of spinning through different team members is parallel to…American’s own videos of the past
Nothing about this is original, and they don’t update the video enough to keep people engaged (like Delta, who gets more people to actually pay attention to the video because it cycles so often).
Oh AA, still going for greAAt but still not getting there.
Boring and uninspiring, with more than a few awkward moments of long pauses between dialogue. Some of the scenes with many crew members feel a little creepy. They've used the same mock cabin set up from the last safety video, which was released in 2016. Good to see the cringy lead flight attendant who narrated the previous video not included in this one, but otherwise, the whole thing feels staid and uninspiring and the final...
Boring and uninspiring, with more than a few awkward moments of long pauses between dialogue. Some of the scenes with many crew members feel a little creepy. They've used the same mock cabin set up from the last safety video, which was released in 2016. Good to see the cringy lead flight attendant who narrated the previous video not included in this one, but otherwise, the whole thing feels staid and uninspiring and the final clip of employees forming the eagle is very similar to the 1990s British Airways adverts with the moving lips.
Besides the lack of IFE at the seats, I'm sure we'll still be punished with this for like 5 years. The best part of playing safety videos versus having the FAs do them live is you can totally ignore them instead of looking at the FAs to be polite.
This video like the prior one makes me laugh when the "passengers" are putting up the tray tables and have so much legroom they can...
Besides the lack of IFE at the seats, I'm sure we'll still be punished with this for like 5 years. The best part of playing safety videos versus having the FAs do them live is you can totally ignore them instead of looking at the FAs to be polite.
This video like the prior one makes me laugh when the "passengers" are putting up the tray tables and have so much legroom they can hardly reach the table to fold it up. Like some seat pitch fantasy world while the common traveler is jammed into cattle class and their knees crushed by the seat in front of them.
Meh, who is even going to see it on so many of their planes with no IFE (that we apparently don't need) anyway?