The Sneaky Ways Airlines Trick Passengers Into Paying Attention To The Safety Demonstration

When you get on a plane, you're likely thinking about nothing more than getting to your seat, lifting your probably overpacked carry-on bag into the overhead bin, and keeping your fingers crossed that no one sits in your row's middle seat. Like many passengers, you may make the mistake of not paying attention to the safety demonstration. Even if you fly all the time, different planes may have different instructions, and keeping everything fresh in your mind can help in the rare event that there's an emergency. Plus, paying attention during the safety demonstration is one of the things flight attendants say makes the best passenger. In fact, airlines have gotten sneaky in terms of getting people to pay attention. You may have noticed that anything you're watching on the in-flight entertainment system gets paused, forcing you to at least be aware that the demonstration is happening. However, airlines are doing far more than that to help ensure your safety. 

Some flights have flight attendants doing the demonstration themselves, and not all safety briefings are your standard instructions on oxygen masks, life vests, and seat belts. There are those flight attendants that go the extra mile and end up internet famous. One such person is Zach Haumesser, who went viral on platforms including YouTube for doing his briefing in "Looney Tunes" character voices, like Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. Another flight attendant was captured making some pretty funny jokes, one involving a pink Speedo and a hot tub. That would be pretty hard to ignore.

Of course, not every flight attendant is a stand-up comedian, along with all their other duties, from serving drinks to passenger management to looking for signs of human trafficking. Some airlines have safety information videos instead. While some videos are straightforward, others are actually pretty entertaining. For instance, if you've flown Air New Zealand, you may have seen its "Lord of the Rings"-themed video called "An Unexpected Briefing." (It's a play on the movie title, "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"; the films were famously shot in New Zealand.) It also celebrated New Zealand's famous rugby team with its "Air All Blacks" video. In 2019, United Airlines did a safety demonstration video to promote the film "Spider-Man: Far From Home," which has all the info you need, along with your friendly neighborhood web-slinger. Some videos even have celebrities, like chef and reality TV show host Gordon Ramsay and actors Chiwetel Ejiofor and Thandie Newton on British Airways. Still, others tout the tourist-friendly features of the places airlines fly. 

They're pretty entertaining, and lots of fun to talk about after your flight. However, these tricks and gimmicks might not be helping. According to a 2025 study published in Sage's Journal of Travel Research, most people who were shown a safety demonstration video featuring tourist-focused content failed a safety quiz right afterward. In addition, a 2015 paper published in Applied Ergonomics found that the more entertaining the video was, the less safety information was remembered by passengers. So, next time you watch one of these safety briefings — as cute as they may be — pay attention to more than the jokes and famous faces. It may save your life.