AirAsia passenger, 20, taken aback by prayer pamphlet on flight, airline says it's an Indonesian cultural practice

An AirAsia passenger was "perplexed" by a prayer pamphlet containing scripts from numerous religions slipped into her front seat pocket aboard a flight to Bali, Indonesia.

Shreya Sanjay, 20, posted a video on Dec. 16 to her TikTok, @shreydawgg14 about the situation.

She captioned the video with a comment meant in jest, "this is not inspiring confidence at all... am I supposed to chant them in case the plane crashes".

In a statement to Mothership, Indonesia AirAsia stated that "providing prayer pamphlets on board is a common practice within Indonesia’s aviation industry".

The airline emphasised that it was a "cultural practice" and was not tied to "safety or operational matters".

At the time of writing, the video had 67,000 views, 4075 likes and 177 comments.

@shreydawgg14 this is not inspiring confidence at all…..am i supposed to chant them in case the plane crashes 😭😭 #funny #relatable #fyppppppppppppppppppppppp ♬ Queen of Disaster - ella

Prayer pamphlet next to safety manual

Responding to Mothership queries, Sherya was travelling on Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ505 from Singapore to Bali Denpasar on Dec. 12 when she spotted the pamphlet. 

She filmed the pamphlet because she found the "duality of it" perplexing and rather "funny".

"Like why is there a whole prayer pamphlet next to the safety manual."

The dual-sided pamphlet listed prayers for safety and ease of travel from six major religions: Islam, Catholicism, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism. 

One side listed the prayers in Bahasa Indonesia and English was on the reverse side.

Indonesia AirAsia's statement explained that Indonesia's transportation laws require prayer information to be made available for passengers.

"Under Indonesia’s Ministry of Transportation Regulation No. PM 30 of 2021 on Minimum Service Standards for Air Transport Passengers, airlines are required to make prayer information available to passengers.

This may be provided in different formats, depending on the airline."

Flight was delayed for nearly 5 hours

According to Sherya, the Denpasar bound flight, QZ505 was originally scheduled for 12:45pm but was delayed to 5:10pm.

A check on Flight Aware showed that the flight landed nearly five hours late.

Shreya said finding the prayer pamphlet after the already delayed flight added to her anxiety.

She was unsure if other passengers received the same pamphlets in their seat pockets.

However, she mentioned that TikTok users in her comments section stated that the practice seemed common for Indonesia AirAsia.

Other commenters found humour in the addition of the pamphlet.

The statement from Indonesia AirAsia highlighted safety as its top priority and also noted that "the practice was cultural in nature, not linked to safety or operational matters".

The airline further stated that the pamphlet placing is only applied on routes "where such practices are familiar and well understood".

Top photo from @shreydawgg14/TikTok and Canva