United Airlines has released its new safety video. The timing here likely is not a coincidence. They were presumably holding onto it – but now that the FAA is lifting restrictions on the airline put in place as part of a safety audit, highlighting the airline’s safety is perfect timing.
Work on the video began in June, and the FAA approved it in March – but it will only begin rolling out to aircraft beginning May 25.
The video was filmed inside a life-sized, airplane-inspired sequential reaction machine, with a creative concept designed to capture and keep the attention of even the most frequent fliers….
United’s New Safety Video by the Numbers…
• 171 customized versions of the safety video to accommodate United’s 8 different aircraft types, 20 various seat configurations on those aircraft and 18 languages
• Ten months in the making – Creative development on the new video began in June 2023; filming took place in October 2023 and then the team spent the next five months on edits and translations before the March 2023 FAA approval
• 12 individual contraptions the ball passes through in the machine
• 17 employees from across the airline, including flight attendants, pilots, customer service agents, ramp service, tech operations, the network operations center and reservations
• More than 1,000 real dominoes
• A 100-year old song, “Rhapsody in Blue” by George Gershwin, that’s been a consistent feature in United safety videos over the years
My United flights right as this video was completed were excellent and the airline exceeded all of my expectations. Even the wifi was functional, which has been my primary complaint (and what’s kept me mostly off of their planes) for years. I do not have concerns about safety flying United.
What do you think of the new video?
I’m of the belief that safety videos should be realistic in their depictions of what to expect. Cramped, smoky cabins with poor visibility. I think they should show exactly what happens when a vest inflates – how hard do you have to pull on the tab? How many breaths and how hard to blow to manually inflate? How hard is it to open the emergency doors? I think they do a horrible job of actually preparing people for an emergency. They should people orderly and calmly evacuating- imprint the desired behavior in people’s minds.
Nice little touch of Gershwin. But I agree with LAX Tom, this is ridiculous. However the video does nicely prepare people to reach their escape pods on the Enterprise. I suppose if they showed what a real emergency looked like some passengers would start to panic even before they left the ground.
Can’t tell if this is sarcasm or a sponsored United post??
Weird.
Aw. No more of the lady being surprised when she punches through the paper backdrop and there’s a llama behind? That’s the part I watch.
These are so dumb.
They should leave the theatrics out of it and just say what’s required by the faa.
Almost 5 minutes long — about a minute longer than the one it replaces….
It doesn’t need to be so complex — the European and Asian airlines get this right — for an airline that is cutting back everywhere — this level of excess is crazy – just shows that their priorities are way out of whack….
Well, for one thing, the Gershwin tune can make anything good or bad, but this to me is silly a little bit with a ball, just be frank and honest the way we used to be in the past and lay it out for the passengers so they know what they’re dealing with show them exactly how life is open how they can be used and you showed Polaris class, but she didn’t show economy or any of the others.. as a retiree this is my honest opinion! I have always loved my UAL!
“My United flights right as this video was completed were excellent and the airline exceeded all of my expectations”
Agreed. United first & business service by FAs have been second to none. I’ve been flying them more and more post Covid. Even the food in first was really good on my last few transcon flights.
A safety video needs to be watched to be useful. So I think United did a good job trying to keep our attention. For those posters who want more technical information, yes it would be helpful to have a 4 hour course on emergency exit opening, life rafts, flotation devices, and how to deal with malfunctions. Unfortunately, this is not possible, but if you look at the safety card and look at placards around the airplane you can learn a lot. Sadly most people are not interested. And if you ever have to evacuate an aircraft, taking your carry-ons with you greatly increases the risk of injury or death. Please don’t do it.
I think the safety video is excellent! Why? Since it is different people will be more likely to watch it. When current safety videos are shown passengers rarely watch them. AA should take note and make a new safety video! Oh, they’d have to get seat-back screens to do that…. never mind.
UGH. . SNOOZER
Wow, those uniforms are terrible. And the video is too long.
distracting noise.
Just count the number of people that watch the safety demo vs. their own PED to see if an extra minute and all that glitz and noise makes a difference in whether people pay attention.
Chances are it won’t.
and let’s remember that a fraction of UA’s airplanes have AVOD so this video really only matters on widebodies and a small percentage of their domestic fleet.
YAWN. United thinks this is a video people will watch over and over again? Not so much; this is painfully boring. At least the current video has funny parts like when she rips the backdrop.. They’re starting with a clean slate and THIS is what they come up with? How disappointing
I too will miss the backdrop rip and llama, that was my favorite part! I’m scheduled to fly UA shortly after the official release so I won’t watch the new one yet and save it for the plane spoiler free.
At United, our safety culture is like this Rube Goldberg contraption. We don’t know how it works either.
United, a prisoner in Obama’s Chicago, is handcuffed with DEI from top to bottom.
Hopefully, the company will bail out of that swamp in the near future and move their headquarters to a more rational place.
Air France still wins for best safety video.
The FAA says “not so fast” on letting go of restrictions on UA’s growth.
WASHINGTON, May 16 (Reuters) – The Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday it has not approved any expansion of United Airlines’ routes or fleets and is requiring the presence of FAA personnel when United conducts final inspections of new aircraft replacing older models.
This video is not only poorly conceived and hugely distracting from the intended safety message, it also depicts an ethnic composition that differs from the actual, and as such is discriminatory.