Qantas In A Quandary Over Air Line
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday March 9, 1989
Australia's national airline, Qantas, feared it might be "tempting fate"by screening the newly-released film Rainman on its flights, because of a line in the film which has Dustin Hoffman requesting to fly Qantas because of its good safety record.
The inflight entertainment manager, Mr David Peterson, said on the ABC's Andrew Olle show that the management agonised over whether or not to cut that part of the film out, but finally decided to leave it in.
"We're very proud of our safety record and we take a lot of pains to maintain that," Mr Peterson said.
"It's the sort of thing that we never in fact advertise.
"But while we are somewhat paranoid about safety requirements, there are things beyond our control, and in some events it could be tempting fate to make an issue of it.
"Another issue that gave us second thoughts in screening it was that the scene itself has Dustin Hoffman quoting airlines, dates, numbers of fatalities etc, and the postline of course is that Qantas doesn't crash."
© 1989 Sydney Morning Herald
