Violence in the Air

by Crystal Madison, PTC North Jersey Chapter Director

 

You pay a lot of money, you arrive hours early, you stand in line, you take your shoes off, you stand in more lines, you get in a seat that forces your knees unusually close to your nose, and then the violence begins.

 

Before you board your next flight with your little ones in tow, don’t settle back in anticipation that the in-flight movie will curb their inevitable boredom. In fact, in addition to your already full plate, you’ll probably have to spend every minute entertaining them so they won’t watch what Continental wants them to see. On a recent Continental flight, after stowing my carryon and diaper bag, wrestling with my 14-month old son on my lap (when he turns two I get to pay twice as much for this pleasure) and arming myself with toys, snacks and other parental armor, I hoped that the in-flight movie would give me some abbreviated relief.

 

I was wrong.

 

“Fracture,” an “R” rated movie with Anthony Hopkins, was what was deemed appropriate for this flight and the children on it. As a Chapter Director for New Jersey Parents Television Council, I was shocked. As a parent, I was livid. In between administering mouthfuls of animal crackers and keeping his feet from kicking the seat back in front of me, I now had the task of turning him to face me for the entire two hour film, so he wouldn’t see the violence on the screen located less than two feet from his little face. And I thought the ponytail of my seatmate was going to be the most annoying part of the flight.

 

Still in disbelief over Continental’s severe lack of judgment, I polled the parents on the plane; across the board, they were disgusted. Sitting behind me were three adolescent boys. Their father said, “I’m definitely not happy about it, you never know anymore what they’re going to see. “One of his sons added, “It sort of makes it hard not to watch, since the TV is right above my head.” This dad was fortunate enough to have personal DVD players for his kids but the show is unavoidable.

 

The mother of five-year old saying said she was “really surprised Continental would choose such a film”, adding “I don’t want my daughter watching this stuff.” A flight attendant admitted her surprise with the chosen film, and when I asked her how films were selected, she laughed, saying, “Well, someone down in Houston gets to decide what families want to watch on our flights.” Yet another mother expressed her displeasure, and when I urged her to write to Continental, she shook her head and said, “What’s the point? They won’t listen to me.” These are the words from consumers of the airline, and I’m wondering if it’s the feedback Continental would want to hear. Their lack of media guidelines tells me they probably don’t care.

 

Continental is a corporation that caters to billions of customers each year, millions of those being families. In 2006 they showed earnings of $343 million dollars. How is it that out of $343 million dollars, Continental is unable to invest in prudent and responsible media guidelines?   Eric Kleiman, director of product marketing for Continental Airlines tells us just how important families are to Continental when he compares exposing children to potentially harmful images and themes to someone not having their choice of soda.  I couldn’t make this up, he said "People love Pepsi, and we don’t serve that, so there you go, we just ruined their flight. That’s an accurate analogy."

 

Larry Kellner, CEO and Chairman of Continental, recorded a nice little message preceding all in-flight movies. He wants our flight to be comfortable and for us to “sit back, relax, and enjoy the entertainment.” Is he serious? When is the last time Larry Keller sat in a coach seat with a squirming toddler or an impressionable six year old and had to divert their eyes from a violent movie? Parents who spend their hard-earned money on flights should not be forced to spend extra time making sure their kids are not watching violent movies. Don’t we have enough on our plates?