During the past few years, certain airlines have incurred substantial expense in using various techniques, especially videos, to improve the quality of cabin and flight safety announcements. In each case, the intention has been to make the announcements attention-grabbing so that passengers more readily absorb the safety information provided, making them better equipped to help themselves and others in an emergency. Sadly, these airlines are in the minority.
Far too many airlines pay little, if any, attention to the quality of the safety announcements made by their cabin crew. Many cabin crew seem to find it a challenge to race through “these boring announcements that have to be made on every flight” with the objective of getting this task finished in the shortest possible time. A simple test for individual crewmembers and managers to apply is “Would I understand this if I were having to translate it simultaneously into my mother tongue?”
The growth in air traffic has resulte…
