John Travolta's Corny Qantas Video Angers Flight Crew

Imagine starting every shift at work with a message from John Travolta. That nightmare has become a reality for the crew on Qantas flights, and they’re taking out their frustration online.

The three-minute in-flight safety video starts out with this message from “Captain” Travolta:

Click to view

“This is your captain speaking – well, maybe not today. But I can guarantee that the guys on the flight deck and the greater team care just as much about aircraft safety as I do. I’ve been flying over 40 years as a pilot and I can tell you, there’s no one I’d rather have at the controls than a Qantas pilot.”

According to Australia’s Daily Telegraph, crew members are complaining that the video is “tacky” and, “The whole thing seems to make the safety message seem trite.” They’re also unhappy about Travolta referring to them as “the team” because, “It makes us feel like we work at McDonald’s.”

Others say the video should feature Captain Richard de Crespigny, who made a successful emergency landing after a Qantas plane’s engines failed in November, becoming Australia’s Captain Sully. Travolta is the airline’s “Goodwill Ambassador,” so his presence in the video makes just as much sense as Alec Baldwin reminding me to be “train smart” on the LIRR (which I actually enjoy).

Though news of employees’ anonymous grumbling has reached the media, a Qantas spokeswoman says they’ve only received positive feedback, and “We’re really happy with the video and we think it’s really engaging.” Nothing about the safety video is “engaging,” but the flight crew should still consider themselves lucky; Travolta is on screen for less than 30 seconds, and there’s no dancing.