Three weeks ago, I was waiting for my flight back to Manila to take off when I heard a flight attendant announce that the crew would be playing a video to show the flight safety measures passengers needed to know. I waited, prepared to give at least half of my attention.

While I make an effort to listen to flight safety measures each time I fly with a new airline, I admit that I tend to only half-listen or sometimes even tune out the next time I fly again with the same airline, especially if it’s the same route. Instructions are generally the same, unless there is something special with the aircraft, I thought. And there was, after all, the safety instruction card I could always refer to.

When I saw this safety video come on, though, I found myself watching – and enjoying – every second of it. How could I not, when it was showing some of the most beautiful places in the Philippines?

A creative in-flight safety video that captured my attention every second

Other passengers seemed to be enjoying it, too, as I saw all heads in front of me turned to the screen.

The video was able to cleverly blend in the flight safety instructions with the backdrop scenery. For example:

This video was a brilliant move on Philippine Airlines’ (PAL) part, to make sure that passengers pay attention to safety instructions on flights. According to the airline’s research, only half of passengers usually listen to safety instructions, and since the airline has updated its safety measures, they saw the need to launch a video with a twist.

Later, I found out that the video was quite new, and was only officially launched last Friday, February 17.

And, at first I had thought that the talents in the video were PAL flight attendants. It turned out they were locals of PAL destinations, who auditioned to be part of this video, making this video a crowd sourced creation.

Watch the making of the PAL safety video below.

Thanks to Philippine Airlines for inviting me and other bloggers to the “Heart of the Nation” inflight safety video launch.