Best airline air safety videos

Watching flight attendants instruct you on air safety rules by rote is boring, so some airlines have come up with more inventive ways to make passengers watch and listen.

Virgin America's cartoon tells it like it is: "For the 0.0001 per cent of you who have never operated a seatbelt before, it works like this..." It's an amusing video that makes fun of those people on-board (you know who you are!) who always think they're above the rules.

Air New Zealand seems to be all about entertaining air safety videos these days. The most recent has US celeb fitness instructor Richard Simmons showing you his safety fitness tips. "First let's stretch it out and lose that baggage ... Stretch and slide. Yeah, you're a giraffe!"

At almost 6 million hits, Air New Zealand's "bare essentials" of safety seems to be a definite favourite. Watch closely and take note of what the cabin crew are wearing (or not wearing).

That quirky Kiwi humour also shows up in the following All Blacks rugby version of air safety tips.

And the last one from Air New Zealand (which isn't really a safety video but we just had to include it) is from the airline's mascot, Cheeky Rico. With his naughty double entendres you get to see Rico living it up on Air NZ's premium economy seats. (Note: this video contains language and themes of a sensitive nature.)

Southwest Airlines' crew take air safety instructions to a whole new level. From singing to joking, these flight attendants guarantee that you will be listening to their instructions.

First up, we have the flight attendant with a great sense of humour. "This is a non-smoking, non-whining, non-complaining flight." And for the smokers out there, have a listen to what she suggests you can do for your nicotine hit...

This next attendant admits that he doesn't want to do the "regular boring announcement again", otherwise it's going to put him to sleep. So have a watch and see what he does instead.

Thomson Airways has decided to give us a peek at a crew of children manning the flight. The flight attendant has her hair in adorable pigtails, and one child demonstrates how to put on a life vest that almost envelops his entire body.

And just to round it all up, here's a send up of all airline safety videos (with included charges) from Mad TV. Don't worry, watching this video won't cost you ... much.

May all your flights be safe and filled with humour!

Are there any that we missed that we should've included? Let us know in the comments below.