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In airliners, safety demonstrations are performed when the aircraft is leaving the gate. I understand it cannot be done latter as an aircraft incident including an evacuation may occur at take off roll. But I think it could be done earlier (e.g. in waiting area before boarding). This way, if any passenger has any question (e.g. this one), this passenger has plenty of time to ask flight attendants before takeoff. This time may also be used to explain why safety demonstration include all those items (life vest inflated outside the airplane is not the only item that could raise questions). Moreover it could be a good use of waiting time before boarding.

EDIT: As highlighted by one answer, some airliners use video to do this demonstration. In this case, the generic items (i.e. not aircraft specific) of the video could be played on screen in waiting area in addition to the actual briefing.

Community
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Manu H
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    If push back is delayed and everyone is on the plane they will go ahead and do the safety briefing. – ryan1618 Sep 30 '15 at 12:31
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    Some might describe standing up in a long corridor of a moving vehicle a safety concern. So it's rather ironic that this is how a safety demonstration is conducted. – Dave Sep 30 '15 at 17:15
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    Pointing out the exits wouldn't work so well in the terminal. – user_1818839 Sep 30 '15 at 19:57
  • One thing missed in the answers so far. I count the seat backs between me and the exits in front and behind. That way, no matter what, I can count them as I move towards whichever exit I might need to use. – Simon Sep 30 '15 at 20:37
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    @Dave "Some might describe standing up in a long corridor of a moving vehicle a safety concern." Tell that to anybody who commutes by train or even by bus. Heck, tell that to the passengers who just used the airport monorail system to get to their gate. Standing on moving vehicles is a societally accepted risk. – David Richerby Oct 01 '15 at 08:07
  • Yes, please: Let's have more random noise in the waiting area! – Pete Becker Oct 01 '15 at 11:16
  • @Dave Have you ever responded to a bus crash? It's not pretty, and there are some very clear and obvious reasons as to why. So yes, it is a safety concern, and a potentially lethal one at that. Whether we are forced to, or socially accept it or not. – Dave Oct 02 '15 at 15:12

5 Answers5

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Many passengers don't reach the gate until seconds before the gate closes for a variety of reasons. They won't get the pre-boarding briefing.

Taxiing is the only time before takeoff where the crew knows for sure that all passengers that will be on the plane are there.

ratchet freak
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    also, the moment the aircraft begin taxing, you're sure every passenger is seated and not busy (e.g. stowing carry-on baggage on the overhead bin or under the seat, etc.) – Marco Sanfilippo Sep 30 '15 at 10:18
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    The passengers aren't the only thing that might change: in some (albeit rare) circumstances, the plane might also change at the last minute too. Imagine a briefing that said "Seats 12 and under will go forward in the event of an emergency, with the rest going to the back" only to find in this plane it's from 15 instead. – corsiKa Sep 30 '15 at 23:21
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The waiting area is a poor choice of place to give a safety briefing. Passengers are talking amongst themselves, fiddling about with hand luggage, or listening to music on earphones, and may not respond well to being interrupted for the briefing. There are often disturbances (e.g. passengers on other flights passing the gate). As ratchet freak pointed out, not all the passengers will arrive early, and if everything is running to schedule, there shouldn't be a wait between the announced boarding time and the actual boarding.

Typically, before boarding (most of) the cabin crew is on the aircraft getting ready for the boarding. They don't have spare time to go to the gate to perform the demonstration, so it would mean having extra staff who just do briefings, with an extra risk of briefing for the wrong aircraft. In addition, it's only possible to point out the overhead panels and emergency exits when you're in the aircraft.

On the aircraft immediately before take-off, every passenger is in their seat, with no headphones in (in case of an emergency), and the cabin crew are spread out with nothing else to do. It can be an anxious time for passengers and crew alike. It's not only a suitable free period: the briefing makes an important activity to keep passengers and cabin crew alike busy during this time. Finally, even if passengers don't listen to the briefing, it gives them a minute to picture the exit routes in relation to their actual seat location, and mentally plan for an emergency.

Dan Hulme
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    You can also include that safety instructions take into account the aircraft type, so the cabin crew or other ground personnel cannot give a standardized instruction, but must give one relevant to the aircraft. – SentryRaven Sep 30 '15 at 11:31
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    You also can't point at things in the aircraft if you aren't in it. And for airlines without reserved seats people may not know where in the aircraft they will be sitting until they sit down. – Doug McClean Sep 30 '15 at 15:53
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A very simple answer to this question is that the FAA (and international agencies) require it to be so to ensure that all passengers are available to hear/see the briefing.

The other more robotic/pilot-like answer to this is because it is on the taxi checklist. Haha :)

Charlie
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This simplest answer is a matter of economy. If the airline gave the briefing in the terminal or wherever before loading the passengers, then the airline would have to allocate resources (personnel, demo gear, logistical planning, and policies) to preform this task. It could be done but the cost (monetary and intrinsic) would be high and the ROI would be little to none.

Instead, they choose to do it while taxiing because it is the most economical time to do so as the flight attendants have little to do (as opposed to during flight where passengers are unpredictable in their needs).

Also, interesting to note is how some flights (Delta at least) have switched to a fully automated system for the safety briefings. Note that this procedure actually saves money by freeing up resources previously committed (as well as potential ad revenue).

Matthew Peters
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    Most of the airlines I've traveled on recently that have in-flight entertainment systems use a video for the briefing. Delta still does it manually on most aircraft without IFE systems, though some have audio recordings. But, yes, that is a good way to ensure that nothing is inadvertently skipped and also relieves the FAs to do other stuff. It's also pretty common for airlines to make these amusing in order to try to make it more likely that passengers will actually pay attention. Air New Zealand is particularly well-known for this. – reirab Sep 30 '15 at 21:21
  • If fully automated, the safety video could also be played on screens in waiting area – Manu H Oct 01 '15 at 07:12
  • @ManuH Where an even larger proportion of the passengers will completely ignore it or be unable to properly see a screen. – David Richerby Oct 01 '15 at 07:40
  • In what sense is there "potential ad revenue" from giving the safety briefing on the in-flight entertainment system? – David Richerby Oct 01 '15 at 07:41
  • @DavidRicherby it could be done in addition to safety demonstration – Manu H Oct 01 '15 at 07:58
  • @ManuH If you're still going to do it on the plane, there seems to be little benefit to doing it at the gate as well. – David Richerby Oct 01 '15 at 08:05
  • @DavidRicherby OK. I have another question. Stiil, repetition is a good way to learn something. – Manu H Oct 01 '15 at 08:50
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    @ManuH, if played in the waiting area, there would have to be a policy in place to ensure that all passengers watch it. Once again, what is the financial benefit to this? – Matthew Peters Oct 01 '15 at 13:02
  • @DavidRicherby, the potential ad revenue could come in at least 3 forms: (1) increased rapport/competitive edge among competitor airlines -take reirab's referral of Air New Zealand as proof, (2) direct product placement -I have no proof that airlines are doing this but potentially, they could offer to display a 'coke' instead of a 'pepsi' product for instance, and (3) the direct upsell of airline specific services -for instance, a brief loyalty program reference while you are already listening can be highly effective in subconscious advertising. – Matthew Peters Oct 01 '15 at 13:06
  • @MatthewPeters Your point (1) has nothing to do with ad revenue: it's about using a well-crafted safety announcement to increase brand exposure. Your points (2) and (3) havennothing to do with safety briefings: I've never seen soft drinks or loyalty programmes mentioned in a safety briefing, because they have nothing to do with safety. So, I ask again: in what sense is there "potential ad revenue" from giving the safety briefing on the in-flight entertainment system. – David Richerby Oct 01 '15 at 14:08
  • @DavidRicherby, because advertising is defined (at least in my mind) as in promoting [with the intention on increasing sales], I would argue that my three major points promote and potentially increase sales. The effects are no doubt subtle but when dealing with a macro system such as an airline serving millions of passengers a year any micro system concern (ie from the passenger's reference) will seem irrelevant. Research a little more into marketing and in particular subtle and subconscious decision making to learn more. – Matthew Peters Oct 01 '15 at 14:32
  • @MatthewPeters I have twice directly asked you for a connection between safety information videos and increased ad revenue. You have given such a connection on neither occasion. I'm forced to conclude that you can't think of one. – David Richerby Oct 01 '15 at 15:40
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While the above are certainly good reasons how this came to be, today the answer is very simple and is the same for almost all commercial aviation questions starting with "why": because there is an FAA regulation and changing an FAA regulation needs monumental effort and thus needs an extremely compelling reason first.

chx
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