Summary
- United Airlines debuts its innovative safety video, featuring real employees to demonstrate key procedures and a modern aesthetic.
- Carrier emphasizes the importance of safety briefings in the flying experience, aiming to engage passengers with creative and informative content.
- United Airlines now faces the challenge of rolling out its new safety videos across a vast fleet, creating 171 versions for different aircraft types.
After months of work, United Airlines has debuted its new safety video, “Safety in Motion.” The video follows a ball as it bounces its way through aircraft-inspired set-ups, and features 17 real United Airlines employees demonstrating key safety procedures. The employees come from across the airline, including flight attendants, pilots, ground agents, and those working in its central operations teams.
Although the soundtrack to the safety video is the 100-year-old song “Rhapsody in Blue” by George Gershwin, the video itself represents a more modern take on the airline’s previous safety videos. United Airlines began the painstaking work of putting together the creative ideas for its new safety video back in June 2023, before later working in collaboration with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to ensure that all safety standards were met. The video was finalized and approved in March 2024, and will begin to appear on selected aircraft from May 25th, 2024.
To celebrate the launch of its new safety video, the carrier also released a behind-the-scenes video offering an exclusive glimpse at how the video was made:
The importance of the pre-flight safety video
Sasha Johnson, Vice President of Corporate Safety for United Airlines, highlighted the importance of the pre-flight safety video, saying,
“Safety starts with being prepared. We have ongoing, rigorous safety training for our crews. And we also make sure our customers know what to do in the event of an emergency. We are proud that our new safety video empowers passengers by giving them information and clear instructions.”
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying
The safety briefing is a crucial part of the flying experience, designed to keep both passengers and crew safe. However, these days, it can be challenging for airlines to drag passengers’ attention away from their own personal devices, and this is especially the case for frequent flyers. United Airlines’ Chief Advertising Officer, Maggie Schmerin, touched on how the carrier tried to overcome this with its latest offering, adding,
“The safest safety video is one that passengers actively watch. Our creative concept was inspired by the idea of connection and the many moments of any given day that our employee work groups have to connect to be able to get thousands of flights off the ground and to their destinations safely. We worked across the airline to ensure our new safety video clearly and succinctly communicates critical information in a way passengers can’t help but watch – no matter their age, background, or experience traveling.”
Vast rollout plans
Over the course of the summer, United Airlines will roll the video out across its vast fleet, which in itself will be a challenge, given its size and diversity. The latest data from ch-aviation shows that United Airlines currently operates a fleet of 953 aircraft, with a further 714 aircraft on order.
Photo: United Airlines
In total, the carrier has had to make 171 different versions of its new safety video to accommodate different aircraft types and seat configurations. The video is also available in 18 languages.

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What do you think of United Airlines’ new safety video? Which is your favorite airline safety video? Let us know by commenting below.