Tue Feb 14, 2017 12:00 am
#1519149
On Sunday afternoon I flew with Monarch from Manchester to Venice. In my experience of CAT the first passenger safety announcement usually comes from the flightdeck who welcome the pax on board and then ask for the pax to give their attention to the more detailed safety announcements given by the cabin crew. I would hazard a guess that much of what is said is not really heard or listened to by most pax.
Sunday I saw something a little different, when the pax were all (just about) seated the captain appeared at the front of the cabin, PA handset in hand and facing his pax. In a loud, clear and friendly voice he introduced himself, the cabin went quiet. He then went on offer a very warm and friendly welcome to the pax and gave a few details of the flight plan. He finished with a clear 'invitation' to everyone to please listen to the following safety announcement by his cabin crew.
The cabin crew then delivered their safety briefing to an almost silent cabin, I've never seen/heard anything like it. I don't know if this is a Monarch policy to try and get greater engagement from the pax for the safety briefing or if was just that particular captain's way of doing it, but it certainly brought near complete silence to the cabin for a few minutes.
At the end of the flight it was noticeable that the first officer took a prominent position to offer a cheery farewell to departing pax. I may be completely wrong but it gave the impression that the flight crew were far more visible than usual.
Somehow I'm not expecting the same later in the week when I'll be one of many hundreds on board an A380!
Sunday I saw something a little different, when the pax were all (just about) seated the captain appeared at the front of the cabin, PA handset in hand and facing his pax. In a loud, clear and friendly voice he introduced himself, the cabin went quiet. He then went on offer a very warm and friendly welcome to the pax and gave a few details of the flight plan. He finished with a clear 'invitation' to everyone to please listen to the following safety announcement by his cabin crew.
The cabin crew then delivered their safety briefing to an almost silent cabin, I've never seen/heard anything like it. I don't know if this is a Monarch policy to try and get greater engagement from the pax for the safety briefing or if was just that particular captain's way of doing it, but it certainly brought near complete silence to the cabin for a few minutes.
At the end of the flight it was noticeable that the first officer took a prominent position to offer a cheery farewell to departing pax. I may be completely wrong but it gave the impression that the flight crew were far more visible than usual.
Somehow I'm not expecting the same later in the week when I'll be one of many hundreds on board an A380!