A tale of two leaders

Brook Sabin writes:

I’m on the last flight out of Christchurch for the night, and Christopher Luxon is greeted like a long-lost friend by our Air New Zealand crew.

At that point, I take a quick look around the cabin. Some people are paying attention to the video, others aren’t. It’s a pretty typical scene on any flight.

However, I couldn’t help but notice Luxon’s head was down, scrolling on his phone. And it stayed down for almost all the safety video.

Now, paying limited attention to the safety video isn’t earth-shattering, and I’d be a hypocrite for saying so. I have done it on many occasions, and in fact, I wasn’t paying full attention by watching Luxon – which makes me just as bad.

I’ve also seen plenty of other passengers not paying full attention, including on one occasion, the Prime Minister. Back in 2019, in the lead-up to Waitangi Day, I was on a flight with Jacinda Ardern to Kerikeri and watched the Prime Minister talk to an adviser next to her as the flight attendant delivered a manual briefing (the smaller planes don’t have video screens). I was with my partner, and we were both a bit surprised by it at the time.

I’m not. It is almost unnatural to pay attention to something you have already heard 10, 20, 30, 50 times before – often just a day ago.

This is where Air NZ used to be a genius with their videos. They were so funny or interesting you would and could actually view them dozens of times, and even look forward to them. Sadly the latest ones are not in that category.

My general rule is I will listen to a new safety video (in case anything has changed) for the first four of five times, and then I won’t. By this stage I can recite it myself. The exception is if I am in the front row (which is often) as there you don’t get the video, but a flight attendant demonstrating. I regard it as rude to ignore them, so will look up from my Kindle for the briefing.

So I don’t regard Ardern and Luxon as not always listening as anything negative at all. They both fly 400+ times a year, and will know the contents by rote.

But what is fascinating is their reaction to the journalist asking them for comment:

It’s important to point out that I went to both Luxon and Ardern’s office to see if they wanted to respond. I got very different reactions.

Luxon offered a bit of a lighthearted mea culpa via statement:

“I know better than anyone how important it is to pay attention to airline safety videos – even if you’ve seen as many as I have and can recite every word of the All Blacks Men In Black safety song! This is a good reminder that I must do my best to always pay full attention.”

So Luxon isn’t defensive, is straight up.

I was later given the following response, to be attributed to a spokesperson:

“The Prime Minister routinely pays attention to safety briefings on planes.”

And Ardern’s response is the opposite – denial and spin.

It’s a trivial issue, but I thought the contrast in the responses was illuminating, and tells us a lot.