Airline apologises after ‘sexually explicit’ film played to every passenger – with no way to turn it off
Passengers onboard a recent flight from Sydney to Tokyo were left stunned when an R-rated film was played on every screen.
A Qantas flight was recently hit by technical issues, which meant individual movie selection was not available.
Hoping to redress the issue, Qantas staff asked passengers what film they would most like to watch, with last year’s racy drama Daddio emerging as the frontrunner.
The R-rated film, which features explicit sexual material and scenes of graphic nudity including exposed genitals, was then broadcast on every screen on the plane.
Qantas confirmed the incident and issues with the in-flight entertainment to the Australian news publication News.com.au.
Posting on Reddit on Saturday (6 October), one passenger wrote: “It was impossible to pause, dim, or turn it off.”
“Here’s the kicker,” they added. “The movie they played was extremely inappropriate. It featured graphic nudity and a lot of sexting – the kind where you could literally read the texts on screen without needing headphones.”
Released in 2023, Daddio stars Dakota Johnson as a young woman who returns home to New York City and ends up connecting with her taxi driver (played by Sean Penn) on the way back from the airport.
During the car journey, she and Clarke have frank conversations about their past relationships, sex, power, and loss.
The person claimed that it took almost an hour before Qantas staff switched the film to a more kid-friendly choice.
“It was super uncomfortable for everyone, especially with families and kids onboard,” they added. “I’ve attached a few pics of the scenes (only from the sexting parts, no nudity).”
Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, a spokesperson for the airline said: “Qantas is now reviewing how the movie was selected.
“The movie was clearly not suitable to play for the whole flight and we sincerely apologise to customers for this experience.”
“All screens were changed to a family friendly movie for the rest of the flight, which is our standard practice for the rare cases where individual movie selection isn’t possible.”
The Independent has contacted a representative of Qantas for comment.
