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Before we get started, let me just preface that I understand that I am probably more conservative than the average person.  So I am certain that I have a lower tolerance for murder, violence and sex scenes in movies. While I am fine if you want to watch whatever movies you want, I choose not to watch R-rated movies.

The scene: A Delta flight to Cincinnati

My wife and daughter were recently in California visiting family, and flew Delta there and back.  As I’ve mentioned a few times before, SkyPesos get a bad rap, but I’ve consistently found good value (AND availability) using the to fly domestically.  We actually picked up this trip for 22,000 Skymiles roundtrip per person, compared to cash prices near $400.

The trip out went fine with no problems (each way they connected in Salt Lake City), but on the way back, an interesting situation arose that I thought was worth sharing

a plane flying in the sky

Drama with the IFE

These were Delta jets that had in-flight entertainment (IFE) devices in the seatbacks, and so they spent the flight watching different videos.  My wife was in the middle with my daughter on the window.  They were watching their various movies when my wife noticed the movie the woman diagonally in front of her (on the aisle of the row in front of her) was watching.  She first noticed a fairly graphic sex scene that turned into some pretty graphic violence.  Later there was another sex scene with (blurred) nudity.  I assume that Delta blurred the nudity and that it was in the original.

My wife was trying to not watch the movie but mostly concerned about my daughter catching a glimpse of who knows what on the screen.

After looking through the list of the Delta in-flight entertainment movies and doing a bit of investigation by watching a few trailers and such, it appears to be the movie Gone Girl, rated R for “a scene of bloody violence, some strong sexual content/nudity, and language”

a silhouette of a man holding a knife

What do you think?

Now I recognize that there is nothing illegal about this and I’m sure Delta’s corporate lawyers have ensured that they are in full compliance with the law (probably by blurring out some / most of the nudity).  I know an R-rated movie shown in a theater can not admit people under 17. But this is essentially public transportation where you stand a small but certainly non-zero chance of having a child even sitting NEXT to you that can totally “watch” your R-rated video.  I’m sure it still complies with the laws

Still, it feels like Delta might take a bit more caution in deciding what movies to allow on their in-flight entertainment?  I left this feedback in the Delta survey about the flight, but Delta apparently does not care as nobody responded to me.

And setting aside what Delta may or may not do, would you as a passenger make choices about what movies you would or would not watch based on the fact that everyone around you including possibly children can see everything you’re watching?  Or is a situation where “this is my bubble so I can pretend nobody else is around and do whatever I want”?

Not to mention the fact that this particular person was on the aisle, meaning that just about anyone walking up or down the aisle past this woman would be able to “watch” the movie.

What do you think?  Am I making too big of a deal about this?  Do you look at who your neighbors on a flight might be before deciding what movies to watch?


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