A delayed Delta flight out of Orlando sparked audible frustration when the FAA-required safety briefing cut into Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime performance.
Federal regulations require airlines to present the full safety briefing before takeoff, regardless of timing or onboard entertainment. And when an airline plays their safety video, you typically get one of two reactions – a few people watch it intently, and most people totally ignore it. I was today years old when I saw a good portion of the flight revolted when the safety video went on.
Gabriella Draney Zielke wears a lot of hats. Her Linked In profile says she’s a writer and producer, as well as the founder of Tech Wildcatters, an early stage tech seed fund. She has a TikTok with over 24k followers, as well as an Instagram account, which she labels as travel + wellness + lifestyle.
It was on this Insta account where Zielke wound up showing a video of what could well be the biggest revolt ever known to Delta Air Lines – when their flight safety video interrupted Bad Bunny during the Super Bowl’s halftime show.
Zielke was on Delta flight 1697, going from MCO to LGA. The Airbus A321 was scheduled for a 7:58pm departure on Sunday night, but the flight didn’t actually leave the gate until 8:23pm, and take off didn’t occur until 8:46pm (taxi time in Orlando typically takes forever. I know – I live in Orlando. MCO is my home airport).
Of course, Sunday night wasn’t jut any night – it was the night of the 60th annual Super Bowl. As per the Associated Press, the game averaged 124.9 million viewers on NBC, Peacock, Telemundo, NBC Sports Digital, and NFL+ (according to Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel rating system). And the halftime show, which starred 17-time Grammy winner Bad Bunny, had 128.2 million viewers.
Bad Bunny’s performance had been a hot topic in the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, and there were millions of people who planned to watch it – including many people on Zielke’s flight.
Anyway, according to Zielke’s video, her flight was delayed but happily, eventually was ready to take off. Which made the timing of the following even worse:
In the middle of Bad Bunny’s performance during the halftime show, the flight’s safety video came on!!!
You want to see a plane full of people be VERY unhappy? Look no further than these two videos that Zielke posted on her Instagram account:
Part 1:
Part 2:
POV: Your flight is suddenly delayed on Super Bowl Sunday so you think you can watch the halftime show.
So you’re jamming and singing.
…when all of a sudden…
It’s time for the safety brief on the airplane
The universal disappointment from the entire flight.
We were supposed to leave earlier (YMMV Note: and then the safety video would have been shown before the halftime show!)
Why didn’t the passengers say something?
It looks like they did, because Zielke said, “Captain said Bad Bunny can wait.”
I can only imagine how disappointed everyone was.
Our take on it
Of course, the timing was AWFUL. But the FAA’s regulation is the safety briefing has to be shown before takeoff. So it’s not as if they could wait until the half time show was over.
We did enjoy the one passenger, a row or two in front of Zielke, who apparently had been watching the halftime show on their cell phone. So when the the safety video went on, they held up their phone for people behind them to still see it.
Image created with assistance from AI
Because some heroes don’t wear capes. 😉
Happily, once the Super Bowl halftime show has played on TV, the NFL puts it up on YouTube. So it would be easy enough to watch, in its entirety, after the fact. But if you’ve been looking forward to seeing the show live, it’s still a disappointment when it’s interrupted by a reminder to buckle your seatbelt and position it so it’s snug across the hips. 😉
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
2 comments
Bad Bunny? I thought Kid Rock was the halftime entertainment?
That was that other show on Sunday night.