I'd like to ask an honest straightforward question in order to have an open and informative discussion on one particular topic. How important are the pre-flight safety announcements?

We know that BA flight crews are extremely well trained in safety measures and we also know that most passengers are not. Nor do most passengers listen to the pre-flight safety announcement. Nor could most passengers tell you what exactly they are supposed to do in an emergency.

Yet as the seemingly well run evacuation of flight #38 demonstrated, the passengers lack of knowledge of evacuation procedures didn't hinder the evacuation. The plane was emptied very quickly. I would expect that the crew did their job correctly and spoke out in a clear loud voices and basically instructed the passengers in what to do. And the passengers, for once, listened. A success all around.

So did the pre-flight safety announcement on flight 38 help at all? Did it have any effect on the safety of the passengers? I'm not arguing that they should go away. That isn't going to happen in any case. But neither will most passengers listen to these announcements in the future. They never have and they never will. Is it because we expect to be taken care of by the crew?