Qantas Airways recently faced backlash after airing a slightly racy movie, “Daddio,” across an entire flight from Sydney to Haneda last week. The Australian carrier cited technical issues with individual movie selection as the reason why the crew decided to play one movie for all passengers. The movie follows a woman conversing with her cab driver, touching on topics such as relationships and infidelity, leading it to receive an R rating for language, sexual material, and brief graphic nudity.
Social media posts from passengers on the flight expressed discomfort with the nudity and sexual content in the film, especially in the presence of families and children. Some users on Reddit also mentioned the inability for individual passengers to turn off the movie. Recognizing that the film was not suitable for all ages, the Qantas crew attempted to fix screens for passengers who did not wish to watch it, only to realize that it was not possible. Subsequently, all screens were changed to a family-friendly movie for the remainder of the flight.
In a statement, a Qantas spokesperson issued a sincere apology to customers for the experience, acknowledging that the movie was clearly inappropriate for a flight audience. The airline mentioned that changing the movie to a family-friendly option is standard procedure in cases where individual movie selection is not available. Qantas also indicated that they are reviewing the process for selecting in-flight entertainment to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Following the incident, Qantas faced criticism online, including remarks from rival airlines like Air New Zealand, who highlighted their own approach of allowing passengers to choose their movies. The incident has prompted discussions about the importance of ensuring appropriate content for passengers of all ages during flights and the need for airlines to have contingency plans for situations where individual movie selection is not possible. Qantas has since taken steps to address the situation and prevent such occurrences from happening in the future.
