Couple Are Removed From Flight For "Refusing" To Watch The Safety Video

A lot of us are guilty of not paying the closest attention to the on-flight safety video, especially frequent flyers.

Usually that ignorance doesn't come without any kind of punishment, but for one couple it has ended in disaster.

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Two passengers on an Air New Zealand flight were allegedly escorted from the plane after one of them allegedly refused to watch the video while playing on her phone.

According to The Independent, a police spokesperson said of the woman: "The passenger will receive an infringement notice under Civil Aviation Authority rules relating to the use of a cellphone".

The flight, which was heading from Wellington to Auckland, had to return to the gate prior to take-off, delaying everyone.

The passengers in question were a "wealthy-looking" man and woman who were sitting in an exit row on the plane according to onlookers. One passenger noted that the woman was carrying a Louis Vuitton bag and appeared "very high maintenance".

Speaking to stuff.co.nz, another said: "The video started playing and the flight attendant held up the card, but the woman started looking down at her book."

Allegedly, both of the people were just "looking at their phones" instead of reading the safety card. A passenger said: "A flight attendant said very patiently, 'Can you please watch what's happening because this is the exit row'".

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Then, things reportedly escalated, with the woman actually putting her fingers in her ears. A passenger said that "they didn't seem to care" despite other passengers getting annoyed, and that it was "shockingly arrogant behaviour".

Still, they didn't stop - with the woman apparently even "loudly making a booking with Jetstar" after she was threatened with removal.

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The plane was delayed for 25 minutes by the whole ordeal, and a passenger made to wait said: "I just felt for the flight attendants, because they got abused."

Let this be a word of warning for the next time you want to skip the safety video - at least be polite about it, else you'll end up getting escorted off by the police, too!

Topics: travel

Marianne Eloise

Marianne writes about TV, film and internet culture for Nylon, VICE, The Guardian, Vulture, Time Out and more. She was previously a staff writer at Dazed.