New Qantas inflight safety video panned as ‘sexist’ and ‘elitist’

Qantas is being slammed for dumping its iconic safety video for a slick new “marketing” video featuring a swimsuit clad female pilot.

Qantas is being slammed for dumping its retro-style safety video for a slick version featuring a swimsuit clad female pilot that critics say takes the airline back “20 years”.

The new “destination-driven” offering across its domestic and international network has been released to replace an earlier retro video released in 2020 that marked the airline’s 100th birthday.

Frequent flyers and Qantas employees appear in the short film, sharing their “magic places” from Litchfield National Park near Darwin and Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia, to Lapland in Finland and Marrakesh in Morocco.

The new safety briefing video replaces the vintage-style video from 2020. Picture: Qantas

The new video features pilots, cabin crew and frequent flyer members. Picture: Qantas

The Flight Attendants Association of Australia national secretary Teri O-Toole told news.com.au the video was “disappointing”.

“Not one Australian-based international crew member was used,” she said.

“There are no cabin crew in uniform and there are no shots of an interior of an aircraft which are all important factors for non-English speaking passengers and those that need to know who is in charge.”

“Not once does it say ‘follow the directions of your crew member’, which you would’ve thought would be the focus of a safety video.”

She also questioned why a female pilot appeared in a swimsuit, suggesting that sort of depiction took women in the workplace took the airline “back 20 years”

“I didn’t see a male pilot in a pair of budgie smugglers,” she said.

A family reunion in Rome is among the stories played out in latest Qantas safety video. Picture: Qantas

Ms O’Toole described it as a great “marketing” video but a poor safety video, and added she thought it was “elitist” to focus on frequent flyers during a cost of living crisis.

Social media users were equally scathing.

“I’d prefer just focus on, oh I dunno, in flight safety during the in-flight safety video?,” one wrote. “Why do we need a long video with all this added stuff.”

Another described it as “slow, long, tedious and boring I couldn’t make it through the entire thing”.

A third was even more scathing labelling it “absolutely awful”.

Just kind of feel like with all the problems with Qantas and the aviation industry a simple safety broadcast might be a better use of time and money than a big destinations sizzle reel. https://t.co/dh0iInzOe0

— James Morrow (@pwafork) January 24, 2024

Qantas chief customer officer Catriona Larritt defended the video insisting safety was the number one priority across the Qantas Group, and the in-flight video together with cabin crew, plays a key role in capturing the attention of travellers to watch and listen to the critical information.

“First and foremost, the video is about familiarising our customers with safety procedures and we try to make it as engaging as possible, in particular for regular flyers who might otherwise tune out,” she said.

Ms Larritt added, “We are proud to feature our own well-travelled team members and customers, to not only deliver the safety message but also promote travel and tourism by inspiring people to explore destinations they may not have experienced throughout Australia and beyond”.