Airline apologises after R-rated film airs on every screen on flight

Qantas Airways has drawn up a stir after broadcasting a slightly-racy movie across an entire flight. And the Australian carrier now is apologising to customers.

There were technical issues with the in-flight entertainment for a trip from Sydney to Haneda last week, Qantas has confirmed – making individual movie selection unavailable. As a result, the crew chose one movie to play across all screens “based on the request from a number of passengers”, the company said.

Qantas did not identify the movie by name, but several media outlets have reported that it was ‘Daddio’, an R-rated film – rated 18 in the UK – that hit theatres earlier this year.

Why did the movie make passengers uncomfortable?

‘Daddio’ follows a woman (Dakota Johnson) who takes a cab from JFK airport and strikes up an extended conversation with her driver (Sean Penn) on her way back home to Manhattan – as the two discuss anything from what it takes to be a New Yorker to relationships and infidelity, notably her current affair with a married man. The film carries an R rating for “language throughout, sexual material and brief graphic nudity”.

Social media posts from users who claim they were on the Qantas flight said they were uncomfortable by nudity and sexting featured in the film – particularly for families and children who were on board. Two users on Reddit said that it was also impossible for individual passengers to turn off the movie.

‘We sincerely apologise to customers for this experience’

After determining that the movie was not appropriate for all ages, the Qantas crew attempted to fix screens for travellers who did not want to watch it – but later found that this was not possible and changed course.

“The movie was clearly not suitable to play for the whole flight and we sincerely apologise to customers for this experience,” a Qantas spokesperson said in a statement. “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 spokesperson added that Qantas is “reviewing how the (initial) movie was selected.”

In the days following the incident, the airline has taken some flak online – including from travel rivals.

“Plot twist: We let you choose your movies,” Air New Zealand wrote in a reply to the news on social media platform X.