S2 Ep 4 - Safety Videos: When Art Obscures Safety

Delve into the intriguing world of aviation safety videos, focusing particularly on Qantas’s recent release. Our guest, Teri O'Toole, is a veteran Qantas long-haul flight attendant and a barrister at law, currently leading the Flight Attendants' Association of Australia (FAAA). Teri brings a unique perspective, blending her inflight experience with legal expertise to represent 6.5K+ flight attendants in Australia.

The primary discussion revolves around the new Qantas Safety Video launched in January 2024. This video, while cinematically impressive, has sparked a debate over its effectiveness as a safety tool versus its role as a marketing instrument. Despite its high production value and storytelling, it’s criticized for lacking in clear, vital safety information. Teri highlights the omission of crucial instructions like following cabin crew directions in emergencies, a fundamental safety message.

This episode contrasts Qantas's approach with other airlines, such as Japan Airlines. Their safety video, particularly relevant in the wake of a successful evacuation of a JAL A350, has been lauded for its clarity and effectiveness. The contrast lies in the use of animation and direct communication of consequences for not following safety instructions – a sharp deviation from Qantas’s more abstract and visually-driven narrative.

Gain insights into an OYFT-organized focus group, which collected feedback from Australian and US passengers on the Qantas video. The responses varied, with some finding it more of a travel inspiration piece than a safety guide. This feedback aligns with Teri’s observations and the general sentiment among cabin crew – that the video, while aesthetically pleasing, strays from its primary purpose of educating passengers about safety protocols.

Delving deeper, the episode explores the implications of using such videos for brand marketing, raising questions about the balance between engaging passengers and ensuring they understand essential safety procedures. Teri’s unique background in law and aviation adds depth to this analysis, especially when discussing the legal and safety obligations airlines

---------------
This episode of On Your Flight Today is brought to you by IFECtiv, an inflight entertainment and connectivity consulting company. Dedicated to elevating the aviation industry's inflight entertainment products and experiences for airlines and suppliers. Visit www.IFECtiv.aero to learn more!

Corinne Streichert, Founder of IFECtiv LLC and producer & host of On Your Flight Today will be moderating a session on delivering reliable Iin-flight connectivity in a shifting market” at CabinSpace Live hosted by Inflight, during AIX in Hamburg, Germany.

Submit a question in advance of the session or visit the event page on IFECTIV.aero.

Disclaimer

The views expressed by guests are their own and don’t necessarily reflect those of On Your Flight Today, its host, IFECtiv LLC, or affiliates. This content is for informational and entertainment purposes only and is not professional advice. On Your Flight Today does not verify guest statements and is not responsible for errors or omissions.

www.onyourflighttoday.com
https://www.linkedin.com/company/onyourflighttoday

Transcript

This transcript was created using speech recognition software. Even though it has been reviewed by a human, it may contain errors. Please review the audio for the episode and use that as the guide before quoting from this episode or transcript. This text may not be published online or distributed without written permission. Feel free to contact the team at ‘On your flight today’ with any questions.

On Your Flight Today – Season 2, Episode 4 – Safety Videos: When Art Obscures Safety 

Live Date: February 2024

Host: Corinne Streichert

Guest: Teri O’Toole, Federal Secretary – Flight Attendants’ Association of Australia (FAAA)

[Introduction] In today's episode, we're delving into the controversy surrounding aviation safety videos, especially focusing on their role in safety education versus their use for marketing purposes. 

My guest, Teri O'Toole, is the driving force behind the Flight Attendants' Association of Australia (FAAA). She has not only soared through the skies as a long-haul flight attendant for 35 years, but also dominates the courtroom as a seasoned lawyer and barrister in Australia.

At the heart of today's discussion is the new Qantas Safety Video, launched with much fanfare in January 2024, without the engagement and input from key stakeholders. It is now drawing intense scrutiny. The video, which could arguably win an Academy Award for its incredible storytelling and production, has sparked debate over its marketing-driven approach, raising questions and concerns about its effectiveness in communicating critical passenger safety information onboard the aircraft.

This discussion is particularly relevant in light of recent aviation incidents, such as the one involving Japan Airlines, where the effectiveness of their safety video was lauded for contributing to the successful evacuation of the JAL Airbus 350, carrying 379 passengers and crew.

We'll scrutinize the new Qantas video, contrasting it with its 'Centenary' predecessor and videos from Japan Airlines, Turkish Airlines, and Emirates, known for clear safety messages. Insights from an OYFT-organized focus group, collecting feedback from Australian and US passengers on the Qantas video, will also be shared.

Let’s go.

Corinne: Terry, thank you for joining us. How are you today?

Teri: Very good. Thank you for having me.

Corinne: My pleasure. You're joining me today from Melbourne, Australia.

Teri: Melbourne, Australia. And it's in the afternoon here. I'm sure it's early hours of the morning where you are.

Corinne: Actually it's late at night. I'm in California, USA. So just for the listeners who might think because we might sound similar, we're on opposite sides of the world. Looking forward to having great discussions about safety videos and everything that's happened in light of recent events. For the listeners today, are you able to just give us a bit of background on yourself and how you got into aviation and your current role now at the F triple A, F A A A, not to be mistaken with any other acronym.

Teri: Okay. Um, it's the Flight Attendants Association of Australia. We're a very small union in based in Sydney, and we represent all cabin crew regardless of airline that are based in Australia. So, we've got little regional carriers that we represent right through to our international airlines. So, we've been, I've been in this role for about eight years. But prior to that I'd been a flight attendant, uh, for 35 years, um, long haul only, um, travelling to some great places around the world and dealing with a lot of our wonderful passengers and people that love travel. So, um, I, uh, took I took a retirement two years ago, but I've stayed in my role as the head of the union, and, uh, I on the side, I have a Law degree, and I, um, have a I had a Law practice before I took up this role. So, um, I'm in a little bit of a unique position of being able to rationalise some decisions. Um, but also, you know, be mindful of the fact that I'm a flight attendant and I know exactly what it means to be a flight attendant. So, I think I have a nice, um, sort of sweet spot in the middle that I can, um, represent members with.

Corinne: Absolutely. I was not aware that you had a Law degree at Sydney Uni?

Teri: No, in Victoria Victorian University and I'm, I have a I'm actually a barrister. I don't know what that is. How you compare that attorney to, to solicitor. I don't know. I'm actually a barrister, but I have a criminal practice. So, um, it's not really related to industrial relations, even though in the seven years I've been in this role, um, I've learnt an awful lot about industrial relations law. So, um. Yeah, that's, that's, the that's the flip side. And even when I had my practice, I continued to fly and I would be in court Monday to Friday. And then on Friday night I usually do a four-day Honolulu. And I'd be back Monday night and I see people and they'd say, oh, where are you? You know, where are you tomorrow? And I'd say, I'm in Honolulu. And all the other lawyers would be very jealous because, you know, they'd be in some court and I'd be on a plane jetting away for the weekend, you know, to have a lovely weekend in, in another part of the world and with our passengers. So, I found it a lovely mix of, you know, travelling, you know, being able just to relax and to, to, you know, enjoy people. Uh, because when people go to court, quite frankly, it's the worst day of their life. No one goes to court thinking, well, this is great. So, you never see people at their best. So, I used to it was a very good mix for me mentally to be able to do, you know, court during the week and then jump on the plane, um, and fly on the weekend and, you know, be with people that were happy and….

[Double Chime]

Corinne: The Qantas Safety video - I saw a quote “It should have been shelved, just like Alan”

Teri: When I first saw the video, and for some context about that, because I don't, you know, I don't want Qantas management to, you know, to think that I'm sort of going after them. But what happened was, this this video was released to the public and it was released to all cabin crew. And in fact, I think it was released to everyone within the Qantas, um, group. So, everyone saw it. Uh, and then I saw it. So, I had a lot of media contacting me, going, what's your thoughts? And I'm like, I was, I was pretty much, I guess, on the back foot. So when I saw it, I was, oh my God. Like the first thing that hit me was it didn't say once, ‘follow the directions of your cabin crew in an emergency’. Not once in the video does it say that. And I think that's the number one thing we need people to know. You don't have to know everything, but you have to know that if the cabin crew say, “Come this way and evacuate”, that, you know, to come this way and evacuate, right. It's really important. So, I think it was an offhand comment where I said, this is this isn't a safety video. It needs to be shelved. Um, and I think the reason I probably added Alan in there was because it's my understanding it was this was a video that was commissioned over 18 months ago. This was under Alan's leadership. Yeah. So for me, Alan's gone as a business, they should have rethought and thought, is this representative of where we are today? Is this where we want to be? Is this a, is this a Alan's vision, or is this Vanessa Hudson's vision, the new CEO? And that was where that comment came from. Probably a little, little unfair, but I don't think the video is a safety video. I think it's a great travel blog video. Don't get me wrong, it's a terrific video. It's love, it's produced lovely. It's got some lovely crew involved and pilot's involved and some frequent flyers. Um, but does it represent a safety perspective? I mean, I'd love to know, you know, if your listeners have seen it and their views, I'm sure they have an opportunity once they hear this podcast to, you know, put their, their views forward. But for cabin crew, um, it was a general sense of outrage. They felt that they had been overlooked. I note that in this, um, considering it's, uh, going to all these wonderful international destinations, there is not one Australian based long haul cabin crew member in that video, but they don't have any of the Australian based flight attendants who are. And they work for Qantas proper. They're not working for a subsidiary company like Qantas Cabin Crew UK. They work for Qantas proper and not one of them are featured in the video. And the second complaint they had was, there was no video and no one in that video in uniform. To make it clear to passengers that English is the second language or that they don't understand what they're saying, but they can see that the if you're following the directions of the cabin crew member. So, they were to and then the third, third thing that the main thing that crew were complaining about was that, um, there was no interiors of an aircraft. And crew were saying things like, well, “do we get our life jacket in Cabo?” Is that where it is? Because that's where the video is. Like, why would we show a mask on a beach? Because it doesn't fall out of the air. So, you know, was is, it something that was quirky enough to make you watch and go, oh, that's how you use it, or that's what it's for? Well, that's why we do it. I didn't see that in the video. And I'm not saying they can't make a quirky way of getting to the, you know, to get into people, to be concentrating on that safety. But it's, you know, it's five minutes of your day, it's five minutes you really need people to take, attention, and I think a lot was learned from the Japan Airlines. I'm not sure if you've had an opportunity to have a look at the Japan Airlines video?

Corinne: Yes I have.

Teri: It's very clear it's animated, which means that you do watch it because it's not just a person, it's animated. But I love that it has ‘We're giving you a direction and then we're giving you the consequence’. So, I think if you watch it, you'll see that it's about the seat belts. And then what they do is they show someone doing their seatbelt up, and then they show someone not doing their seatbelt up. And then the plane hits turbulence, and the person without the seatbelt sort of flies into the air. I don't know if you remember that part of it. So, it gives you the consequence. It shows another one where it says, put the bags under the seats and then it shows someone not doing that, and it shows turbulence and it shows the bag flying through the air. I think in the last one that I remember really clearly was the passenger. Everyone standing behind him sort of flying their arms, trying to get off the plane, and he's open the overhead locker and trying to get a bag out. So, from those, you clearly see the consequence of why we're telling you don't take your baggage, right. Don't take it because it slows down the evacuation. I only got 90seconds supposedly to get you off the plane. That's the aim is 90seconds to evacuate the aircraft. And so I love the fact that it had ‘This is why’ and this is the consequence if you don't. And I think that that's what a safety video should show. That's just pure and simple. It should be about safety. It should be about how do we get you off as quickly as we can and as safely as we can.

Corinne: So firstly, I do want to clarify this isn't a Qantas bashing session. 

Teri: No. 

Corinne: And this is all feedback for Qantas leadership. And I feel that, you know, you're in a fantastic position to be able to give that feedback. You've worked as crew for many, many years. You're familiar with the laws, able to represent the crew. You know,  I can't think of anyone better to be able to do that. The perspective I offer is, even though I'm sitting here in America, just about everybody I love is in Australia, and they all love to fly as much as I do, and I want them to be safe. And I still feel that emotional connection to Qantas. Every time I walk past LAX or San Francisco and I see that little kangaroo, I get a tear in my eye.

Teri: Absolutely.

Corinne: What I did leading up as part of my preparation, I actually held a mini focus group. Asked them to watch the video. Also ask them to watch the Japan Airlines safety video. One of the people in the focus group was elderly male. World traveller watched the video and the first comment was “Are we going to Darwin?” - When they saw Louise from Darwin at the beginning of the video, I could see that we're enjoying it. And they were listening carefully. And then when Paris came up, they turned around and said, I remember taking my wife to Paris and got distracted from the video. Just to clarify, that was an Australian person, then an American, millennial, first response was, “Does Qantas fly to all those destinations? I didn't know they went to Morocco!”. Next was a baby boomer American, travelled at quite a bit on lots of airlines around the world. Their first response was “What did Louise say?” They didn't understand the I think the tribe that she originates from. Another interesting comment was from a 19-year-old, someone that has started travelling, flown domestically around Australia and a couple of international trips. Loves to travel. Her first reaction was “Wow, that video was beautiful. It caught my attention. There's so many places I need to go to”. Then when I probed and asked questions about, “Well, do you feel that you know what to do in the event of emergency?” And she said, “actually, I'd probably have to watch it again. I'm not so sure there was too much time between each of the tips”. Hearing those thoughts, Terri, does that kind of confirm and align with what you're hearing from the crew who travel with people of different nationalities, different backgrounds? And one of the people in the focus group, English, was the second language. So, does that seem consistent with all the feedback you received?

Teri: Absolutely, absolutely. It hits everything that you've said is, as I said, is exactly what the cabin crew said. These are the people that are there doing that job. That's their safety video. That's the support that the airline is providing them so that they can do their job of getting people off quickly. That's I think that's what's been lost. The airlines need to support their cabin crew. They need to do safety videos that support the cabin crew in doing their role, not the, supporting marketing from doing theirs. There are plenty of time to do advertising. I'm not against that video being shown. You know, on on every screen from the minute you walk on board. What a great video. By the way you're going to get told this in a safety demonstration, but here's where your lifejacket is and play it over on a loop because, you know it takes a while to board an aircraft. People need to settle in. Do they really need, you know, if you're going to Los Angeles, it's a 15 hour flight. Do you really need to start your first movie the minute you're, you know, sit in your seat? Or could you have that kind of thing playing in the background so that people are watching it and maybe watching it two, three, four times? It's a great, you know “Oh, by the way, here's how you put your mask on, by the way”. You know, but it's not a safety video. And I think that's those reactions are the reactions that we've had. Some of the reactions we had from cabin crew were, ‘well, it's really great that Lachlan's met the love of his life in Lapland. But of of of what purpose is that to us?’ You know, that was some of the things like and, and you know, um, another person ‘I'm flying to Rome to have lunch at my favourite restaurant.’ That's a little out of touch with us at the moment. Not everyone can afford to drop everything and go to Rome for lunch, and it just seemed a little elitist. I think at the beginning of the video there's a gentleman called Nestor. Nestor is absolutely adored, um, at Qantas by our customers, our frequent flyers. He's the first-class lounge host. So, he he greets everybody when they come into the first class lounge, and he's brilliant at his job. He's absolutely amazing. And any of your listeners get an opportunity to go to the Qantas First class lounge, you'll see Nestor. And please say hello. Um, but again, if you're not a first-class passenger or if you've never been to the lounge, he's going to just be another Qantas worker. So, and really in Hollywood in a red convertible and really again, what's that got to do with the safety of the aircraft and fastening a seatbelt? So, um, you know, I think they're the criticisms. It's not criticisms about the video, it's criticisms about where's the safety in it. It's, you know, I think at one point of the most important things, as you see from the video of any of your listeners, have had an opportunity to see the actual video of the Japan Airlines evacuation. It was pretty scary. And I think a lot of crew, we've got a lot of new crew at Qantas, and I think a lot of those new crew, it was a really, you know, vivid reminder of why they're on board the aircraft. So, for a lot of crew that have only been flying, say, a year or, you know, and under a year and a half, you may not have actually, you know, you've seen videos of it, you've seen, you know, you're trained. And I want to make this really clear to your listeners, Cabin crew in Australia are some of the best trained crew in the world, so we have no doubt about their training. This this is not a, we're not saying all you need to do a bit of video because crew don't know what they're doing. That's absolutely not the case. They know what they're doing and they're highly skilled. So I think for them they're it's really important, as I said before, that it's supported by the company and it's not. But for Japan, that Japan Airlines video, a lot of people were saying, wow, that was in your face. Like, that's what we do. We may not have ever done it. And for a lot of people, 35 years, I never evacuated an aircraft, but I know I can, if I had to, I could still do it now. So I think that's the issue that the crew have all seen that crew around the world have seen that. And I think that and then this safety video being released so soon after that incident sort of had a, it played a part in why people were so disappointed in that as a safety video.

Corinne: Looking at the Japan experience recently, I came across a video it was on, I think, Channel Nine news in Australia. There was an Australian family of four on board and I think it was the son was recording, evacuating the aircraft, coming down the slide, and he was there with his mother. And in the background you can hear the mother go, “where are they? Where are they?” She was looking for her husband and her daughter. Just repeating those words gives me chills, because I can't begin to imagine what was going through her mind. But they were interviewed on Channel nine news and the daughter, I think she was 17 and the son who was about 19, and they were saying how they felt, and the daughter said at one stage, words to the effect she was getting walking off the plane, just waiting for it to blow. But what was challenging for them was everything was being yelled at in Japanese, and there was someone with them giving them instruction. Did you see that video of that family from Queensland?

Teri: Yes, I did, yes I did, and they were saying that they were yelling the evacuation commands. Everything was in Japanese, so they didn't understand what they were saying. And again, even that part, you know, follow the crew members direction come this way. And they clearly did follow the direction because they got off safely. And I think that's so, I mean that many passengers and it was a long evacuation. Right, because they were waiting for. And I think that's the other thing your listeners may not know. You've got to remember, the pilots have to shut down the engines. They don't want people running, running out or going down a slide when the engine is still running. That's bad. That's not what you need. So while the while the, the pilots, the technical crew are shutting down engines and doing that time is going and that's, that's really important. And you've got and you've got firefighters and whatever coming into the they're all coming and surrounding because they know that this has happened. Everyone you know was aware that it had happened once the other aircraft was struck. So, those, that time was a long time to order the evacuation. But the evacuation was quite quick. Um, in comparison to I think it was 15 minutes that they're on that plane for. But if you watched from the outside, my goodness, you saw how quickly that aircraft went up, like it, it didn't take long. It swept through there. And I think that's the you know, when people are sitting in over wing doors in Australia, they get a briefing because there's no crew that sit there. And they say in the event of a, you know, emergency, can you operate the door? If there's fire, don't open it. And I think now that people have been able to see that Japan Airlines video, they probably understand a little bit more that when it's on fire, like that last thing you do is open a door into a cabin that's full of oxygen. Because remember, it's been pumped,  oxygen's been pumped in it. It lands any fire outside, you open the door. And what happens when you mix fire and oxygen? So this is where we talk about, you know, even people that are, you know, are mad, um, travellers and travel all the time. Do they understand why they're certain directions? That's always been an interest to me. Do people really know why people say, put you put your bags under the seat? We've got weight restrictions on how much cabin baggage you can bring in. All of those things are for real reasons, but we never probably give the reasons why we do that. Um, you know, people go, oh, there's cranky crew. You know, they said my bag was too heavy. But the reality is that the lockers can take certain amounts of weight. The last thing you need is those is too much weight. The lockers open, bags start flying around and hitting people. That's extra injury when you're trying to get them off if the aircraft is on fire. So it's all compounding. On why there are directions.

Corinne: I think you've raised a really great point. Do people really understand, for example, when you're talking about the exit row - When I've travelled a lot in the US, I like to sit in the exit row because I get more legroom. Right? And the crew come along- “Are you willing and able to assist in the event of an emergency?” I am willing and able and I and I kind of do know, but seeing this video made me realise, ‘okay, do I really want to still sit there? Do, am I strong enough? I mean, these are the questions I think people really need to be honest with themselves.’ ‘Are you really able to keep it together and open that door and follow crew instructions if something goes wrong?’ And I think that's really critical as well. But with the Japan Airlines incident, which I think is still under investigation, and first and foremost, I want to clarify I am not a safety person. So, I welcome anyone with safety information to post a comment or add to this, but it took them apparently 18 minutes to evacuate from the time of impact. Now, and as you said, they couldn't just open the doors. The crew had to wait for the instructions from the pilot. It was at nighttime, and I think the crew of Japan Airlines are heros is to have saved, I think. 

Teri: Yes, absolutely. 

Corinne: 379 passengers and crew on board. And we should be looking at this, I think, as an example of what should we be doing in aviation regardless of what country we come from.

Teri: Absolutely, I think, one of the one of the interesting things about that, um, and in my long career, it's always been don't, don't mention the war. Don't, don't talk about safety. We don't want to we don't want to scare people. You know, we don't want them nervous flying. So we don't want to tell them what happens. Do you know if that makes sense? We but in actual fact, it's not, it's not saying it's not safe. As I said, you're safer in an aircraft if you look at statistics than you are in a car. So, people don't not driving cars because they see car accidents. You know, we know you wear a seatbelt because that's going to protect you and most people haven't got it. We put rules in place. Um, in most countries you wear a seatbelt, it's going to save your life. And we know that from data. But it's one of those weird things with aviation where we never want to talk about the unlikely event, which is, you know, some kind of an incident. They don't happen often, but the more you're educated towards that one time it may happen, the more chance you have of us surviving. And it's so, you know, so it's really one of those catch 22 where we don't want to talk about it because it's not going to happen. We hope it doesn't happen. But if we don't talk about it and have everyone really prepared, then what's the chances of survival in that case? So yeah, I think it's a really interesting topic.

Corinne: I think it really is a balance between commercial objectives and operational and safety objectives, and it's finding that balance. And it seems like Japan Airlines, and they're not the only one. I've been watching quite a few safety videos and, and I picked some from all over the world to say, ‘okay, how is everybody else doing it and how you know, how does it compare?’ I have to say, you know, Qantas, and I have to give Air New Zealand a great at producing videos. You know, I'd even go as far as saying it's Academy Awards worthy. You know, if there was an Academy Award for Best Safety video, but I wouldn't call it a safety video. I'd call it a marketing video because I think that's what it is. Even though I believe the Qantas chief customer officer, Catriona Larritt, was quoted saying, first and foremost, the video is about familiarising our customers with safety procedures. I'm sorry, I have to disagree. I don't feel that. Is it the Japan Airlines one? Yes, and a few other airlines that I looked at that I do want to call out specifically were Turkish Airlines, Finnair, Cathay Pacific and Emirates. Really different styles. The one that comes to mind is the Emirates one. It actually, I like the way they switch between the economy cabin and their premium cabins, showing the different safety features. I thought that was very cleverly done. Finnair as well, used real people showed what it really looks like. Turkish Airlines did a great animated version and so did Cathay Pacific. So, they are out there. And it's interesting how when you look at Australia and even the USA, when you're looking at the United, the Delta's and I haven't looked at Americans, there is more of a performance, more of a marketing flair to it. Should safety videos really be disassociated with marketing and focus on the basics?

Teri: Yes. I mean, honestly, you could do that great video, you could do that great video and then have, you know, by the way. ‘Yeah. Here’s the crew’.. this is and I think one of the things in that Japan Airlines video that you probably didn't pick up, it's very, very subtle but if you go back and have another look or if your listeners go to the Japan Airlines video, the flight attendant is smiling while she's talking to you. When it gets to the part about an emergency and an evacuation and direction, she stops smiling and she's very serious and she uses very clear hand gestures. So even to the point of ‘We’re flight attendants were really happy, you know, we're great. grateful you're on board, we're here to take care of you but we're really serious about our job as first responders.’ I think even something as subtle as that, that visual. I picked it up, and I'm sure that other passengers would pick it up. And so, even the direction from the airline to something as simple as that – ‘Make sure that when you're doing this, this part, this is safety. This isn't smiling business. This is this is your first responder role’. I just think that's interesting. We don't see that anywhere. And I think the other thing that I found a little disturbing about the Qantas video, and again, I want to be really clear, this is not Qantas bashing, we weren't given any input. There was no consultation. I didn't even know they'd done a new video until, um, someone said, have you seen the new video? And sent me, and of course the company said, oh, we should have showed you. And, and they showed me. And by that stage, like I'd already seen it on YouTube. And the issue for me is at one point they've got a female pilot, and I was a little critical of that. And I don't want to be critical of that because that's not fair. She's made choices, but she was in a swimsuit and then a pair of shorts, and I was I was critical saying that, you know, we have less than I think we have about between it's 6% or and that's, that's come a long way. It used to be something like 2% of our pilots in the, in the, in Australia were women in our commercial airlines. I think it's moved. It's probably somewhere around 12 I think now 12%, but it's still a heck of a way to go. And really I just felt that I want to see pilots being respected. We certainly respect them as cabin crew. They're the chain of command. They're in charge of the aircraft. And I thought it was just a little too whimsical to have a female pilot on the beach with her kids. Um, when I would have preferred to see the female pilot in uniform. And also, yeah and I think she says, I hope you have a safe flight. I don't want my pilots saying, I hope you do. I want our pilots saying, you're going to have a safe flight. And I thought again, those nuances, small things matter. And I guess the lens, that cabin crew look at it, myself and all the people that I represent, we look at it through a completely different lens. As you were saying, the difference between corporate, corporate, you know, needs and and having an opportunity to use this captive audience for marketing and safety. When we're on a plane, we're there and we do the service and we, we're there to make customers as comfortable as possible and do everything. But there is a switch that's flipped when it turns to safety. And I, I encourage everyone to understand that about cabin crew. Yes, they're there to be nice and, and kind and empathetic and all of those wonderful qualities that cabin crew just naturally have, because that's why you go into that industry, and that's why you become good at your job, and you stay is because you have those. ‘let me help you, um, kind of natural tendencies’. But the minute that safety is required, they are out the door. You know, that that's there's no polite evacuation. It's, it's a direct command. ‘Come this way. Jump! Get out! Hurry!’ These are, you know, that they switch from that service side to that safety side. And I think that's what we haven't seen in this video. It doesn't switch from we're here all have a nice time. But if we're not going to have a nice time you need to we know our stuff and if that makes sense and we're serious. We're serious. This is a serious profession. We're highly trained and we're serious. And I think that sometimes is what's lost.

Corinne: I've been fortunate to have seen some of the crew training in my years working in the industry and seeing them actually simulating evacuation of the aircraft. And it's like they switch into these confident strong people that are leading, leading them to safety.

Teri: They find their safety voice we say. Because there'll be you'll see in all the years, you know, we do our emergency procedure training at one is twice a year. And you would you would go to the evacuation training where you would do an evacuation. And these lovely, quiet, little spoken, you know, some of our girls are very petite and very quietly spoken. And then they'd ‘Whoa, you know, the roar would come out of them, um, for the evacuate. Evacuate’. And you'd be like, whoa, where did that come from? It's come from your socks. It's come right from you, you know, from your as far down as it can come. So, you know, you're right. They have to roll. They roll beautifully between those two roles. And I just think, you know, again, when we look at the people that actually physically do the job and are on the aircraft every day, that's their role, they're going to have a completely different opinion of safety than the people that sit in an office somewhere and talk about safety. 

Corinne: Absolutely. 

Teri: It's sort of a big, big picture. We haven't had this happen. Well, that's great that you can have that. You can sit in an office and have that view. But for the people that put their life on the line every day they go to work and they sit on that aircraft. No one ever knows. And we do a thing. And I'm not sure if other airlines around the world do it, but certainly, um, for our Qantas people, we do a thing called the ‘Silent Review’. I don't know if you've ever heard of that Corinne. Have you heard of the Silent Review? 

Corinne: No I haven’t.

Teri: Okay, so that's where you sit there in your jump seat while you're on, on a going to take off or coming into landing and you repeat in your head an acronym. Ours is ‘old ABC’. And in it, it tells you and you're thinking oh stands for Operation of doors. L stands for location of equipment. D stands for the directions that you're going to give, as in your commands, your directions. Um, A stands for able bodied. Who else can help you? And these are these. We're going through these. Uh, B stands for the brace position and C stands for the, the commands. I think I've got that a little bit out of order. But you are thinking that they are sitting there. So sometimes when you're taking off and you're looking at your crew and they're in their position and you know, they're not smiling or they're not looking at you and they're not conversing with the passenger sitting in front of them, that is because they're going through what we call their silent review every time they're ready and prepared for when that incident happens. They are so ready to deal with that. So, I think that's another thing that's just an internal thing. You know, it's just an airline thing that maybe people don't understand. But they go through their drills, they go through the silent review every single time they sit in that jumpsuit with their seat belt fastened.

Corinne: I really appreciate you giving us these insights a lot of the flying public think they're there to serve you a nice meal and give you a drink. No.

Teri: That's a good day. That's a good day at the office. 

[Double Chime]

Teri: As I mentioned earlier, there was an incident on one of our domestic flights out of Perth into I think it was into Sydney. I've had a look at it again, but the um, ATSB, which stands for the ‘Australian Transport Safety Bureau’, did an investigation because in that evacuation it was a full evacuation. Um, I think it was a precautionary evacuation. I don't think anything was on fire from memory. Um, the passengers got off with bags and went down the slides with bags on their lap. And I think if you read the investigation, it was they said, well, the safety video wasn't really clear enough. for them to know that they shouldn't have done that. But you see those slides if you go down those slides in a pair of heels, or with a bag, you can tear the slide. Now, if you think of, you know, a big aircraft, you two stories up right. If if it lands on its wheels, you're two stories up. It's a long way to fall. If the, if that slide is ripped by because someone had a pair of high heels on and they haven't taken them off and they've torn, or they've had a bag that's got a sharp edge or the bag's torn, the slide, that exit becomes unusable.

Corinne: Nobody else is getting off out of that door.

Teri: No. You can't know because you just there's no no slide. If the slide deflates, there's no slide. So then that's a whole door unusable. When when they do the 90 second rule, that's 90s to get a full passenger load off. That's with all doors open and all doors operational. So then the 90s goes a little longer then to get everybody off. So these are the reasons why we say don't take your bags, just don't take them. Take your high heels off. We say that in the commands that we would give a passenger before you know, we get this is an evacuation, prepare. You know, take off your shoes. High heels off. Yeah. Um. Unfasten your seat belts. Take your high heels off. These are commands that would be given before the evacuation is, um, is called. But you may have a person say, “Well, why? Why do I have to take my shoes off? I'm going to leave my shoes on. I don't need to take my whole heel. Why would I need to do that? That doesn't make sense to me?”. So that's where I say that sometimes we need to give the reasons for why there's a direction, so it makes it easy for the person to go, oh gosh, you can you can tear the slide. Oh, well, I'm going to wear my shoes. There's been a lot of chat about this topic, um, since the video was released. And some people have said, well, you know, Japan, Japan in general, the Japanese people are very compliant people can't really compare them with Australians. They're not the same. But I think all people want to survive in an instance, a natural instinct regardless of your nationality. It's a natural instinct to want to survive. So, if you say to someone in Australia, for instance, if you swim, we're a beach country, we're an island. If you say to people, you swim between the flags because that's the safest place and there's no rip, you won't get dragged out to sea and you won't drown. And there's lifeguards patrolling between the flags. Most people will swim, swim between the flags. If they don't go well, I'm not going to do what you told me to do because you've just told me to do it. They go, ‘oh, okay, that makes sense. I do get in trouble. There's going to be someone. A beach patrol is going to be someone there, a lifeguard that's going to be able to see me because that's the area they're patrolling’. It's kind of that commonsense approach. But with aviation, because a lot of people aren't cabin crew or pilots, they think they know because I fly all the time, but they may actually have no idea. Duration and how many times you've flown doesn't mean you understand the nuances of why. You know, people are asked to do things. Oh, I remember vividly. My favourite was when you said, all passenger, can you just pop that bag a little further under the seat because the bag would be sticking out and I wish I had a dollar for every time someone said, no, it's fine, it's okay, it's fine. And I would say, yeah, it's fine for you. But see that man in the window? He's going to trip over that bag when he's trying to get off in a hurry, so it's not really fine. You're stopping him from getting off safely, so push it in so that when he goes to get off, he's not going to trip over on it. Because that's the other thing. When people don't recognise one bag slides into an aisle, one you can and go back to the Japan Airlines, the smoke in the cabin, someone's not going to see it. They're going to trip over it. That's the first person. Then the second person is going to trip over them. Then the third person is going to trip over them until you've got to block aisle, because there's all these people on the ground, tripped over each other trying to get up in a very narrow space, trying to get up. And there's, there's, that's a difference between surviving and not surviving. So when people say, put your bag all the way under your seat, there's a real reason for it.

Corinne: And I think it is a challenge to, to airlines to be able to communicate that, you know, coming from the corporate side of it, I totally understand marketing and advertising and building brand awareness and all of that, you know. But at the end of the day, we're responsible for lives and we're not doing our jobs properly, if we're not doing everything we can to protect those and to communicate.. 

Teri: Absolutely 

Corinne: to everyone on that aircraft. I mean, we love to travel. It's fun. You're excited. You want to go. But what happened in Japan has been a bit of a reality check to everyone that's seen it in the news that - ok something can happen, very rarely does. But if it does happen, be ready. Because a lot of the articles that have been written about this as well, they all start off. I suggest you pay a bit more attention to the safety video in future after the Japanese incident, that’s what everybody has been saying.

Teri: Yes.

Corinne: And I think, you know, after a while they might forget, but I think it's on the airlines and all involved to keep sending that message and to make it a bit clearer. You know, again, I want to say this isn't a Qantas bashing. I love that video Qantas did. If it could win an Academy Award, give it to them because it moved my heart. It made me. It made me feel warm and fuzzy inside and I loved it and it inspired me. It was fantastic. But for the safety of my loved ones.

Teri: Yes, I agree 100%. 100%, it's a beautiful video. And if my criticisms have come across as that I don't like the video, that's not true. And I think everyone that's in it has done a terrific job. It's a beautiful video and it does. It makes you proud of Australia. It makes you proud of the people that work for us. It is a really, really good video. And that was never the criticism. The criticism was that it is far from a safety video and that was always the criticism about it. And unfortunately, you know, you know, it was put out. I would have loved the opportunity. In the meantime, I have written to Vanessa Hudson as the CEO of Qantas and said, these are the things that I'm concerned about. These are the things that Qantas employees and your cabin crew are concerned about. So, we haven't just taken the cheap seats of, you know, going to the media and making, you know, making concerns. We've raised them legitimately, they are legitimate concerns. As I said, you know, there's been an incident where, you know, that was called out that perhaps the safety video didn't clearly identify what passengers needed to do. And has that been considered in the decision to make that video? Perhaps not. I read a travel blog where they said, “oh, you know, whingers and moaners, there's nothing wrong with the video”, was the comment. And I think that's disappointing…

Corinne: It’s ignorance.

Teri:  Yeah, safety is really important. This isn't a whinge. This is a real concern. And as I say, everyone deserves the right to come home from work safely and that aircraft is the workplace of our cabin crew. They will stay on that aircraft, whether it's on fire or not, until they find all the passengers and get them off or do everything they can to get passengers off. That's our training. Once, once everyone's evacuated. Your listeners may not know this, in our training, once everyone is evacuated, you grab your torch, there's a torch under every seat, you grab your torch and you go through the cabin and you call it. You know, Terry, I'm in zone, I'm in A zone, left hand side, no passengers. And you keep going until someone else comes and says, Hi, this is Corinne, left four, I've done B zone. I'm meeting you at this row. We can evacuate and then you go back and you say, Terry left one, I'm evacuating. You let everybody know that you're getting off the aircraft. Now for them to be the last on the plane and to do that, it's important that everybody understands what their role is in an evacuation. So they're not on longer than they need to be. So it actually is so important that for the safety of our cabin crew, I guess that's where it's not just the aircraft safety, it's the safety of the people that have to get you off. It's such a small ask for passengers just to pay attention. It's really just a ‘please just pay attention because it could be the difference between you surviving and not surviving’ and more so for that flight attendant surviving. And that's our, you know, that's my job is to make sure that their welfare, their health and safety is protected. And so it isn't a whinge. This isn't a whinge or trying to get attention. This was a really...It was a plea to say this video is not what we expect or we need from the airline to support their cabin crew employees.

Corinne: I agree, it is definitely not a whinge. It is not an effective education tool for passengers as to what to do in an emergency. But it's, like I said, Academy Award winning, but not effective, not effective in educating passengers on safety procedures.

Teri: Yes. It's also timings everything. And I think the focus after the Japan Airlines incident for a lot of our crew was simply, ‘wow, that's what we do’. That's what it's going to look like when I get that day, that bad day at the office. I now have a really much clearer understanding of, you know, because we train for smoke, we, you know, in our trainers, they release smoke so that you can't really see and they do all that stuff. But it's also a training. It's a training exercise. You know, yes, are you highly trained? And will you? I'm absolutely 100% sure our crew will. But when you watch it in real life, you're like, ‘wow’, there's people screaming and you know, it's noisy and everyone, you know, it's a lot. So, you know, when you see that, it makes everyone and all of our crew, over our own social media pages, the union social media pages, there was a lot about it. And, you know, heartfelt condolences to the families of the people that were lost, terribly tragic, but then it was like, wow, look what the crew did for the others, you know, getting them off. So, it was really, really in their heads. Everyone was, it was at the, you know, the right at the top of their minds were thinking about this. And then a safety demonstration video comes out that doesn't hit the mark. And I, I can't say that had that had been before the Japan Airlines incident, would it have caused as much concern? Maybe not, maybe not. But after, when it's just so raw in everyone's psyche. It was funny, a lot of the social media and a lot of the media commentary around this in Australia was like, oh, it's 10 minutes long. Well, no, that was never the question. The length is not a question. They've got a couple of different ones. They've got one as a marketing tool, then they've got a shorter version that will be shown on the aircraft. 

Corinne: And for me, If the airline wants to sit and talk to me about safety for 30 minutes before we take off, I'm all for it. I used to sit on planes when I was flying a lot for work. And also now when I fly and they go, ‘oh, there's a mechanical delay’ and the people next to me are like, ‘oh no, nah’ I'm like, “No, take your time. Fix it. Take hours. Fix the problem. 

[Double chime]

Teri: The other thing that's missing off the aircraft of this video, im our business class area now in our pods, our business class seats, there is a shoulder strap that needs to be fitted. Right. That is one of the largest problems that crew have is when they're preparing the cabin for takeoff. They've only got a short period of time, they've been handing out drinks and doing other things and they have to literally go to so many people and say you haven't got your shoulder strap on, you haven't got your shoulder strap, can you put your shoulders, it's a quick, like it's constant and so a reminder in the safety video to put that strap on is necessary. It really is necessary because now that's more work the crew have to do to prepare the cabin for takeoff for their safety when they've got to go to every passenger in a cabin and say please put your sash belt on because they haven't done it because they haven't seen it in the safety video. And by the way, our incidents in Australia of passenger aggression, violence, et cetera, have increased. So we know that and we know that it's around bags and people being upset and things like that, that all stirs it, alcohol is another one. So for us, every time a crew member needs to give a direction that shouldn't be because the company haven't put a video that explains please do that. If we had to go through every single, I mean on an A380 I think there's about, oh gosh, I think there's about 70 business class seats on those big, big aircraft. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, you want to go to every single one of them and say, put your sash belt on, put your sash belt on, put your sash belt on. By the end of it, they're not going to sound very nice because they're rushing to get this done. They've got a minute between ‘prepare the cabin for takeoff’ and sitting down and calling back and saying the cabin's prepared. Now, if you've got to go through every single one of them and say, put your sash belt on, they're not going to get that. They don't have, you know, they don't have time. And again, this is where service is encroaching sort of on that safety requirement because they just don't physically have the time to go through and do it. Whereas if there's a video, most people would want to comply. I wanna be safe, I'm not gonna get in a car and not put my seatbelt on, I'm not gonna get into an aircraft going at 500 miles an hour at 44,000 feet and not put my seatbelt on. If I need a sash belt to make me safe, I'm gonna put it on. But you need to remind people because they may never have traveled in that cabin before. And so it's just, it's nonsensical not to put it in the safety video. 

Corinne: Yeah.

Teri: I remember my favorite one. British Airways had one and they had all of it done by comedians and so it was funny but it was, it was like you it was like they were famous people like so your attention was sort of taken because it was a famous person, if that makes sense you were like oh that's you know such and such on the screen, so imagine even using I've got no problem with that like having the people sitting in there or comedians or famous people or whatever, using them. We have a lot of brand ambassadors in Australia. We have a lot of great, interesting musicians and actors and artists. Wouldn't it be great to ask them, hey, will you be part of this safety video? Do it all in an aircraft and sit them there and find another way to get people interested that isn't…somewhere else. I do get that it's hard to capture people for that small amount of time and to keep their interest. I think at Qantas, they've got a marketing, marketing expert on the board. I'd be really interested in knowing what Todd Sampson's view of the video was. And maybe, you know, he's someone that's been in marketing and advertising for years, he's considered one of, you know, one of the best in Australia. And yet, you know, again, maybe that was, maybe he did have some say in it and was more marketing than the safety side of things. You know, you can be clever and creative. No one's trying to make it boring. That is not what Cabin Crew was saying, and certainly not what I'm saying, it's about finding creative ways of doing it that still keep the message. Because I think at the very beginning, it's, you know, ‘this is my safe place’, I think she says. ‘This is where I come, this is my safe place’. And even that seems to be lost then about the safe place. Like it just, it's kind of lost. It's it's, a nice word. This is my safe place, and it's beautiful I must admit I do love the beginning of it with our Indigenous, with the Indigenous theme. I think that's beautiful for our country and I think it's great for Qantas as the Australian carrier to do that really well done, that part, and that could have led into the other part of it, but Yeah, I really do think that, that whole concept, this is my safe place. Well, that's great, but, you know, then it goes into the ballerinas at the Eiffel Tower or the Indian dancers, you know, putting their head on the chair in front of them. It just doesn't, it doesn't gel. It's almost like a story that doesn't have a, you know, have an ending or you've watched, you've got, what was that all about? If that makes sense. Again, beautiful cinematography, all of that. It just doesn't. I'm now struggling to articulate it myself. It just doesn't hit the mark. I can't see them pulling the video. Disappointingly, I'm sure that cost an enormous amount of money and I can't imagine that the airline would want just to waste that money. But I'm hoping that if anything comes from this it will be before the next one that they really consider what that video is about, that they'll consult with their employee group, they'll consult with cabin crew, their subject matter experts, and really find a way of cutting through. 

[Double chime]

Corinne: So, the safety video before this one was the centenary video? 

Teri: That’s correct.

Corinne: So that wasn't that much better either?

Teri: No it wasn't, but at least it had crew in uniforms, even though they were in different uniforms for different eras. They at least had cabin crew walking through an aircraft, on an aircraft, doing, you know what I mean, and you know, was it, it wasn't better, but the fact that people were in all those different eras of the uniform and it went sort of from the flying boats right up to the A380, it did keep people's attention and there was more like this is what we need you to do. And I'm almost certain it said follow the directions of your crew member, which is like your basic 101 safety demonstration is that. But it, look, originally when we saw it, we weren't that happy. We were, at that point, we really wanted a section that said, was more like follow the commands of your crew member. So maybe it doesn't have that come to think of it because that was what we weren't that happy about. But this one, at least that one had some history behind aviation. It was on the aircraft. It was closer than this one. Yeah, yeah.

Corinne: Oh, it was a fantastic video, the centenary one. Again, watching it from this side of the pond, I was like, wow, magnificent. Again, Academy Award worthy. It was, told the history of Australia and Qantas. It was fantastic, but safety wise, hmmm.

Teri: Yeah, again, safety wise it was, but this one I think, I don't, if you're going to compare them, one was, I think one had at least some semblance of, you know, cabin crew. Yeah, at least it was all cabin crew. I think pretty much every one of those people that were dressed in different uniforms in different areas were all cabin crew, current cabin crew. So, but this one sort of has stepped even farther away from that. 

Corinne: Let's see what happens. You know, I don't, I said, I'm not bashing Qantas. Nobody wants to see Qantas succeed more than I do. You know, for me, it's a symbol of Australia. I worked for them many, many years ago. They're in my heart and always will be. And whenever they get in the news, I'm like, “oh, what have you done now Qantas? You know, go fix it. You're making us look bad.” Cause you know, it is a symbol of Australia. 

Teri: Absolutely.

[Double Chime]

Corinne: Teri, thank you so much for joining me today. This has been an absolutely fantastic conversation. Teri, if anyone would like to contact you to learn more or to share ideas and help advance the industry forward, what's the best place for people to contact you?

Teri: Probably on our FAAA .com .au website, which is an Australian based website. The contact numbers are there. Our email address is info@FAAA.com.au, really simple. I joined LinkedIn just recently. I haven't been on LinkedIn before but there's a way to do it that way. But generally, yeah, I think if you Google us you'll find the FAAA as the union and it pretty much has all our contact numbers. So if anyone needs any more information or they want to have a chat about aviation, we're always up to talking about aviation.

---oooOOOooo---

The ‘On Your Flight Today’ Podcast is created, produced and distributed by:

IFECtiv LLC

3055 St Rose Parkway, #777963, 

Henderson, NV 89077 USA 

www.IFECtiv.aero

©2023 IFECtiv LLC, All rights reserved