With many passengers travelling with personal screens and smartphones as carry on, the issue of inappropriate films being watched on planes is a hot topic. Earlier this year a woman on another Delta service was moved, after reporting the passenger next to her for watching pornographic material on his smartphone.
However, the film Fleming took offence with was not illicit pornography but a film on the carrier’s inflight entertainment programme.
“To be clear, this was not a passenger’s personal device. This scene was playing on the seat back, with the airline providing the entertainment.”
Fleming reached out to the airline following the incident in April, saying that her child had been inadvertently exposed to the passenger’s movie and asking Delta to review their onboard.
“Just landing on a Delta flight I took with my child. Another passenger in our area and in clear sight lines was watching a movie with nude sex scenes,” she wrote to Delta back in April.
“We didn’t want our child exposed to this. We had no warning we would be forced to see it.”
Eventually the company’s response came back along the same lines as the advice she had been given onboard the aircraft.
Edited for Content: How planes edit films for all audiences
Passengers who have spent any time watching inflight movies will be familiar with the pre-film disclaimers on inflight entertainment systems.
Normally this will tell viewers that the film has been ‘edited for content’ or ask for ‘viewer discretion’ due to sensitive or adult content. You will also sometimes see the watermark over the inflight movie, saying that the film has been edited on behalf of the airline.
As a public transport catering to a wide range of passengers, airlines may choose to edit films so they can be viewed by a more general audience.
To do this the airline must apply for an edit licence from the distributors, and review the cut from a third party editor. Of course this could be to remove sensitive material such as violence, nudity or language that might not be appropriate for some passengers.
However, an edit licence gives airlines a lot more say about what passengers see. According to Encore Inflight Limited, an edit house specialising in airline entertainment, there are a whole host of things than get cut from inflight films “Religious representations, plane crashes, competitor airlines’ logos, swear words and images or mention of pigs or pork for Muslim carriers are the general items that are edited.”
The complexity of censorship on planes only grows with international networks.
Sometimes Airlines retract their redux. In 2019 Delta reinstated the uncut versions of films including Booksmart and the Elton John biopic Rocketman, which were edited to remove same-sex love scenes.
Ultimately unless there are local laws they have to navigate, it is up to the airline as to which versions of a film they play.
Air New Zealand asks passengers to use their own “judgement” when viewing age rated films that might also be seen by a child seated nearby. Although they do provide a parental lock for screens where children are seated, they do not take responsibility for anything playing on the screen of another passenger.
“Because the viewing of programmes on other passenger’s screens in the cabin cannot be prevented, Air New Zealand accepts no responsibility for any footage or audio viewed or heard,” reads their website.
Fleming said that in the case of her Delta flight in April the opportunity was missed by the airline to cut sensitive content from the film.
“In such close quarters, where screens are clearly visible to people in the surrounding area, this would be a responsible and ethical option and one they should reconsider,” she said.
