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Wander the World: IATA’s new campaign – Save a life not a Bag · Wander the World with Pippa Hudson

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Right, we are going to the Zoom line for our
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: interview today because our guest is joining us from internationally
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: because we are going to be talking to the IATA,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: the International Air Transport Association. And it's a chat about
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: a new campaign they're running that really made me question
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: who are we becoming as a species to think that
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: we even need a campaign like this. Let me set
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: the scene for you like this. If you are a
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: frequent flyer, chances are you probably don't pay that much
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: attention anymore when they do the safety briefing before you
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  Speaker 1: take off. I know I'm guilty of that. I'm usually
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: reading a book or listening to a podcast or maybe
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: busy switching off my phone or taking my shoes off,
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  Speaker 1: whatever it may be. We tend to not pay as
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: much attention because we already know how to buckle our
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: safety belts and what to do with the thingy under
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: the seat if we have an emergency, etc. But in
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  Speaker 1: an emergency, actually, one needs that information fresh in mind
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  Speaker 1: because it is so important. Easy to make a split
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  Speaker 1: second bad decision that can have a tragic outcome, not
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  Speaker 1: just for you, but for your fellow passengers and crew members.
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  Speaker 1: And this is why we're taking our time in Wonder
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  Speaker 1: the World today to talk about this new campaign called
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  Speaker 1: Save a Life, Not a Bag. It is urging passengers
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  Speaker 1: to change their behavior on flights, firstly, to pay more
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  Speaker 1: attention to that safety briefing, but secondly, to think about
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  Speaker 1: what they do in the event of an actual emergency.
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  Speaker 1: Joining us via Zoom is Kashif Khalid, who is IATA's
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  Speaker 1: regional director for Africa and the Middle East and is
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  Speaker 1: also their regional expert on passenger safety and security. It's
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  Speaker 1: a great pleasure to have you joining us this afternoon. Welcome.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: Good day. My pleasure.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: Thank you. I mean, Save a Life, Not a Bag
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  Speaker 1: would seem like such an obvious thing to say. But
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  Speaker 1: the fact that you need a campaign with that title
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  Speaker 1: tells me that perhaps people are not thinking logically and
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: are thinking selfishly when it comes to emergency situations. What
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  Speaker 1: was the sort of the thinking behind needing this campaign
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  Speaker 1: in the first place?
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  Speaker 2: So we launched the Save a Life, Not a Bag
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  Speaker 2: campaign at our annual general meeting over the summer. And
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  Speaker 2: it builds upon another campaign that we launched last year,
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  Speaker 2: which was safe travel with lithium batteries. As more and
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  Speaker 2: more passengers travel, they're carrying more devices, let's say. And
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  Speaker 2: that campaign was very well received in terms of traveling
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  Speaker 2: safely with lithium batteries. But this year, in partnership with
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  Speaker 2: the European Union Safety Agency, as well as the Federal
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  Speaker 2: Aviation Administration from the US, we wanted to highlight the
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  Speaker 2: challenges that the aviation industry faces during times of of evacuations.
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  Speaker 2: And before we did that, we went out to conduct
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  Speaker 2: a research where we saw that there was a clear
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  Speaker 2: gap between what passengers think they know and what they
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  Speaker 2: would actually do in an emergency, which was a bit
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  Speaker 2: of a good revelation for us. So interestingly, 80% of
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  Speaker 2: passengers said they know what to do in an emergency,
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  Speaker 2: but only 61% correctly said that they should leave everything
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  Speaker 2: behind if there is an emergency. That means for us
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  Speaker 2: that nearly four in 10 passengers did not choose the
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  Speaker 2: safest action. And hence we thought, okay, let's develop a
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  Speaker 2: campaign that not only the industry, but could resonate well
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  Speaker 2: with passengers and that builds upon a safety for the
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  Speaker 2: traveling public. Also, interestingly, we found through our research that 60%
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  Speaker 2: of passengers said they would be less likely to take baggage.
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  Speaker 2: If essential items were already secured on them. And with
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  Speaker 2: that also in mind, we created, let's say, a six
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  Speaker 2: point checklist for passengers that they should adhere to, but
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  Speaker 2: also created a fun, interactive way for the traveling public,
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  Speaker 2: but also industry stakeholders to relay those messages for passengers,
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  Speaker 2: shall we say.
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  Speaker 1: You touch on something so important here. You know, I
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  Speaker 1: think if you were to ask somebody on dry land
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  Speaker 1: in a perfectly normal situation with no safety risk, would
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  Speaker 1: you save a person's life or grab your cell phone?
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  Speaker 1: They'd tell you face to face, of course, I'd save
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  Speaker 1: the person's life. But in reality, in the moment, a
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  Speaker 1: lot of people's first thought would be, oh, my gosh,
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  Speaker 1: my wallet's in my in my bag. My cell phone
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  Speaker 1: is in the locker above me or perhaps even more seriously,
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  Speaker 1: medication that I need is in that bag. And their
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  Speaker 1: instinctive response would then be to go for the bag.
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  Speaker 1: You've said 60% would be okay if they knew that
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  Speaker 1: those essential items were secured on their person. But Kashif,
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  Speaker 1: how realistic a challenge is that to say, think about
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  Speaker 1: it that way, knowing that people are, you know, travel
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  Speaker 1: is not comfortable when you've got lots of things on
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  Speaker 1: your person. How do you encourage people to think that way?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think the first thing would be to, A,
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  Speaker 2: get people to be prepared by keeping essential personal items
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  Speaker 2: on them. Typically, we see from a passenger's perspective, you know,
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  Speaker 2: the most important things that they have are their passports, wallets, keys, medication,
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  Speaker 2: and increasingly their cellular devices or personal electronic devices. And
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  Speaker 2: one way to mitigate the risk from a safety perspective
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  Speaker 2: would be rather than keeping it in their cabin luggage
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  Speaker 2: or in the overhead bins is to have a sling
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  Speaker 2: or a bag that they could wear across their body
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  Speaker 2: where they keep their essentials with them. So in the
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  Speaker 2: event or the unlikely event of any evacuation or emergency
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  Speaker 2: that they have all of their essentials and that passengers
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  Speaker 2: don't stop to collect their baggage. And then another area
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  Speaker 2: that we thought of was increasingly historically we've seen that,
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  Speaker 2: you know, when events have occurred, Another challenge that we
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  Speaker 2: see is that passengers have stopped to take photographs or
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  Speaker 2: report on social media as well. And from our perspective,
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  Speaker 2: every second matters, whether a passenger is reaching for their
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  Speaker 2: baggage or taking pictures or videos, it has an impact on.
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  Speaker 2: the quick need for an evacuation. And this is the
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  Speaker 2: awareness that we're trying to create.
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  Speaker 1: You know, I can absolutely believe you. If you come
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  Speaker 1: to visit our building, you will find throughout our building
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  Speaker 1: here in Cape Town, Kashif, signs saying, in the event
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  Speaker 1: of a fire, please evacuate before taking video. Because that
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  Speaker 1: is the nature. I mean, this is a building full
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  Speaker 1: of storytellers. So their natural instinct is to grab a
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  Speaker 1: device and start filming. And as much as it's said
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  Speaker 1: tongue in cheek, it's said for the same reason you're describing,
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  Speaker 1: that actually that might well be people's first instinct to
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  Speaker 1: document what is happening around them rather than doing what
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  Speaker 1: should be the first thing you do, which is just
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  Speaker 1: get yourself to safety. Gush, if you've mentioned, you know,
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  Speaker 1: the speed of evacuation, do you want to just talk
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  Speaker 1: a little bit about I mean, obviously, the quicker you
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: get people out, the better. But do you want to
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  Speaker 1: talk to us about this concept of how every second
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  Speaker 1: matters in the in the case of an emergency?
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  Speaker 2: Correct. So from a safety perspective, airlines, regulators and safety
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  Speaker 2: agencies have an industry benchmark, shall we say, or a
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  Speaker 2: KPI where airlines would like to be able to evacuate
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  Speaker 2: an aircraft in under 90 seconds. So imagine if you
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  Speaker 2: have a couple hundred passengers on an aircraft that are
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  Speaker 2: in an emergency trying to take their luggage or gather
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  Speaker 2: their belongings. Every second matters. I mean, getting people off
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  Speaker 2: from an aircraft in 90 seconds as it is, is
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  Speaker 2: quite an arduous task. And then again, we talked a
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  Speaker 2: little bit about where 80% of passengers said they know
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  Speaker 2: what to do in emergency. That might be true, but
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: many times you're traveling on different aircraft types. So depending
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  Speaker 2: on whether it's a narrow body or a wide body,
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  Speaker 2: the exits could be at a different position. There might
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  Speaker 2: be different evacuation protocols that the crew may be briefing
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  Speaker 2: you on. So it's important, A, obviously, as we said,
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  Speaker 2: to pay attention to the instructions, leave all baggage behind.
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  Speaker 2: Most importantly, don't film or photograph anything. And then keep
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  Speaker 2: aisles and exits clear because there are a whole type
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  Speaker 2: of different passengers. So there may be passengers with reduced
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  Speaker 2: mobility or minors that may need additional assistance. So in
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  Speaker 2: addition to that very short window or time during evacuations,
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  Speaker 2: we also need to be mindful of the passenger profile
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  Speaker 2: as well.
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  Speaker 1: We're in conversation with Kashif Khalid, who is the regional
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  Speaker 1: director for Africa and the Middle East for the International
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  Speaker 1: Air Transport Association. If you'd like to comment on what
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  Speaker 1: you've heard or share what you've observed, if you've ever
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  Speaker 1: been in a situation where you had to evacuate an aircraft,
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  Speaker 1: for example, did people generally comply and follow instructions as
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  Speaker 1: they'd been told? Or were they reaching for the overhead
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  Speaker 1: stowage to grab their hand luggage? Were they holding onto
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  Speaker 1: their shoes? Kashif, I know they always tell you to
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  Speaker 1: take off high heels. And I always think who on
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  Speaker 1: earth would travel in high heels in the first place?
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  Speaker 1: But that's another issue to think about. What are some
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  Speaker 1: of the other key safety instructions besides leaving your luggage
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  Speaker 1: behind and losing the high heels? Is there anything else
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  Speaker 1: you'd like to emphasize?
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  Speaker 2: Well, again, re-emphasizing the six-point safety guidelines that we've developed
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  Speaker 2: for passengers, which are Pay attention to crew, leave all
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  Speaker 2: baggage behind, do not stop to retrieve any luggage that
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  Speaker 2: may cause delays. Don't film or photograph, obviously, but also
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  Speaker 2: keep aisles and exits clear as obstructions can slow down
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  Speaker 2: the evacuation process for everyone on board. Not to mention
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  Speaker 2: any sort of hard surfaces or things such as heels
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  Speaker 2: may cause damage to evacuation slides or aircraft equipment. And then,
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  Speaker 2: you know, from a preparedness perspective, keep all of your
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  Speaker 2: valuables that you deem necessary on you so that in
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  Speaker 2: the event that there is an evacuation, that you have
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  Speaker 2: everything you need and you don't need to stress about that.
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  Speaker 1: Akash, if obviously this is information one hopes one never
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  Speaker 1: has to call on and which we know is very
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: seldom necessary to call on. But the point is, if
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  Speaker 1: it does happen to a flight that you're on, you
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  Speaker 1: want to know what to do and you want to
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  Speaker 1: trust that people are going to follow crew instructions very carefully.
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  Speaker 1: My final question to you is, is that becoming more
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  Speaker 1: difficult in the age of social media, of everybody protesting
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  Speaker 1: and being very vocal? Do you find that people tend
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  Speaker 1: to follow instructions from a crew? I mean, we've seen
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  Speaker 1: a lot of the shared videos of passengers fighting back
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  Speaker 1: with flight attendants, for example, when they've tried to cut
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  Speaker 1: them off from alcohol or tried to tell them to
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  Speaker 1: stay in their seat when they are misbehaving. And there's
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  Speaker 1: a very sort of rebellious confrontational streak in some people.
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  Speaker 1: Is that something that you are finding is a challenge,
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  Speaker 1: that people are less inclined to listen to the instructions
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  Speaker 1: from a flight attendant these days?
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  Speaker 2: So generally speaking, we see that passengers adhere to the
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  Speaker 2: safety instructions that crew are delivering when they're traveling. But yes, historically,
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  Speaker 2: we've seen an increase in unruly passenger incidents as a
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  Speaker 2: result of a variety of factors. But generally, as mentioned,
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  Speaker 2: when it comes to safety, a lot of the passengers
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  Speaker 2: do adhere to crew instructions. And I would like to
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  Speaker 2: take the opportunity to also mention, apart from the Save
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: a Life, Not a Bag campaign, another area from a
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: safety perspective that resonates with all of us is The
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: use of lithium batteries or personal electronic devices while traveling.
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  Speaker 2: I know I'm going off on a tangent a little bit.
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  Speaker 2: It's important. These days, we've noticed that over 83% of
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  Speaker 2: passengers carry a phone, 60% bring a laptop and over 44%
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  Speaker 2: travel with a power bank as well. And personal electronic devices,
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  Speaker 2: those with lithium batteries do pose a risk. Many airlines
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  Speaker 2: have guidelines on the safe carriage of lithium batteries. So
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: don't put them in your checked-in luggage. Keep them with
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: you in cabin. But also keep your devices with you.
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  Speaker 2: Don't charge them while you're on board. But also, A,
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  Speaker 2: make sure that the battery is visible so that in
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  Speaker 2: the event that there's any challenge as a result of
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: a fire from a lithium battery, that the crew and
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  Speaker 2: those that are trained on board are able to deal
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  Speaker 2: with that as well.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us this afternoon and
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  Speaker 1: appreciate your insight into the story behind the campaign campaign.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: Save a life, not a bag. A great pleasure to
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  Speaker 1: have Kashif Khalid, IATA's Regional Director for Africa and the
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: Middle East, joining us today. Thanks for your time.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much.