Woman escorted off plane for refusing to watch safety video

A woman was removed from an Air New Zealand flight bound for Auckland on Tuesday 7 May when she refused to comply with the instruction to watch the flight safety video.

Police were called to escort her off the plane, which was on the runway at Wellington Airport ahead of what should have been a short 1hr 5 min trip to Auckland on flight NZ42.

‘Police were requested to meet a passenger at Wellington Airport today after she failed to comply with crew instructions,’ the New Zealand Herald reported.

‘The passenger will receive an infringement notice under Civil Aviation Authority rules relating to the use of a cellphone.’

Another passenger onboard the flight contacted Newshub and complained about the airline: ‘I have to say that if watching the safety video is so crucial and you can be escorted off the plane, maybe Air New Zealand should stop making ‘Rachel Hunter ice cream ad‘ safety videos,’ the person said.

‘Just make a short video that is compulsory to watch and let people know if they don’t watch the video, the police will come and take them away.’

Air New Zealand have a habit of creating four-and-a-half-minute-long productions (the current one delivered with rap and dance, which is, frankly, painful to watch).

In 2014 the airline did make an entertaining safety video with an appearance by Elijah Wood. On its YouTube page the airline said, ‘As the official airline of Middle-earth, Air New Zealand has gone all out to celebrate the third and final film in The Hobbit Trilogy‘.

Despite its entertainment value, even watching that can get a bit much if you’ve seen it half a dozen times. A short to-the-point 30-second video may go down better, especially with frequent fliers.