Airport & Airline

Virgin Atlantic introduces emotional health warnings on inflight movies

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Category: Airport & Airline

Created on Wednesday, 17 August 2011 09:45

In a recent survey Virgin Atlantic found over half of respondents (55%) agreed their emotions become heightened when on a flight and 41% of men surveyed said they hid under blankets to hide their tears.  Meanwhile women said they were most likely to hide their tears by pretending they had something in their eye.

People from Wolverhampton seem most emotionally sensitive with 70% of respondents saying their emotions heighten on a flight compared to only 26% of respondents from Gloucester.  When it comes to the ‘mile high blub club’ no respondents from Aberystwyth or Wrexham said they had cried whilst watching a movie on board compared to nearly a quarter (23.33%) of respondents from Wolverhampton.

Corinne Sweet, Psychologist said:“It is not surprising that a high flyers feel emotional at altitude as their defences are lower than usual, as they put themselves in someone else’s safe hands.  The space created by long-haul flying can allow for deep-seated feelings to surface, especially when triggered by tear-jerking films.  Heightened feelings in the rarefied atmosphere of an aircraft, should be welcomed, not feared.”

Virgin Atlantic’s Film Critic Jason Solomons said: “We throw our inner emotions at the screen and, like a mirror; it reflects them back, almost mercilessly. Yet we also feel a strange kind of comfort in tears - George Clooney is going through the same hurt as me; Jennifer Aniston is as desperate as me; if Kate Hudson can have a happy ending, so can I....”

Members of Virgin Atlantic’s Facebook site, were asked which movies have made them cry whilst on board aircraft.  The top 10 movies that made Virgin Atlantic passengers weep are:

1)      Toy Story 3
2)      The Blind Side
3)      Eat Pray Love
4)      My Sister’s Keeper
5)      Seven Pounds
6)      Brokeback Mountain
7)      The Notebook
8)      Gran Torino
9)      Invictus
10)   Billy Elliott

Virgin Atlantic’s Film Critic Jason Solomons continued:“Films inspire the strongest emotions. As a new Dad, the very sight of a father and son on screen is enough to set me off crying these days.  Before that, I'd always be in bits over unrequited love.

“On a flight, we're isolated, leaving loved ones or aching to be reunited with them. We're nervous, we're tired, we might have had a drink at a time we usually wouldn't. If we see an image, a scene that reflects our emotional state, frankly we're suckers.   Flying and films is a heady cocktail, the images and feelings so close to your eyeballs, so intimate. It's the modern-day drive-in and they always seemed to me the most romantic of dates.

“You don't really want to land with mascara running down your cheeks or bloodshot eyes but you can't help it. And if you're tempted to hug the stranger next to you, just point to the screen blubbing and I'm sure they'll understand.“ 

Virgin Atlantic recently introduced a revolutionary new in flight entertainment system by Panasonic.  The new cutting edge system uses the latest touch screen technology which allows passengers to scroll and swipe through over 300 hours of content quickly and easily.  Later this year Virgin Atlantic travellers flying on the A330 will be able to send and receive emails and texts on their Blackberries, handheld PDAs and other mobile devices.

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