Mile-high reading: in-flight magazines reviewed

In-flight entertainment is a varied business these days. Where once you'd get a bog-standard magazine and a bog-standard film on pretty much any flight you took, nowadays onboard entertainment can be all-engaging or non-existent.

Fly with Singapore Airlines and not only will you have a magazine, newspapers, broadband, seatback TV with a choice of films, television programmes, video games and music, but you can even learn a language during the course of the flight. Meanwhile, those flying Ryanair could be left with nothing to look at except the flight safety card embedded in the head rest in front.

With so many recent advances in the ways to keep passengers amused, in-flight entertainment is no laughing matter for the airlines. The World Airline Entertainment Association (WAEA) annually awards prizes for excellence in in-flight entertainment; its categories include best magazine, audio programme, special purpose video and so on. As low-cost carriers bring prices down across many routes, airlines have to be more competitive with the services they offer onboard. The very cheapest ticket alone won't necessarily cut the mustard anymore.

In an increasingly digital and interactive world, you might expect the humble in-flight magazine to get squeezed out. Not a bit of it. The glossy, highbrow, well-designed mags in the seat pockets are barely recognisable to the booklets that were handed out even as recently as five years ago. Airlines spend big money employing publishing houses to produce the magazines. And it's not just about keeping the passengers entertained, or receiving an award from the WAEA. The magazine is one of the few things (apart from the socks or eye mask) that passengers like to take away with them. A good magazine can do wonders for word-of-mouth advertising.

All of which is good news for fliers. On some low-cost airlines, such as bmibaby, the in-flight mag is the only thing we've got to keep us amused. Even on long-haul routes with more sophisticated entertainment, there is often nothing like settling in for a good read. Everything you're used to seeing in mainstream magazines can now be found onboard: celebrity interviews, eye-catching design, features, news, events calendars or fiction. Plus, you'll often get relevant destination reports or hotel reviews.

So what can you expect from which airlines? Over the next couple of months, we’re going to review some of the magazines of the main UK and Irish airlines. It may not influence your overall decision as to whom you fly with, but as Tesco always says, every little helps…

© easyJet

easyJet

EasyJet's in-flight offering is one of the new brand of mags – glossy and fat (186 pages long), containing the full works. The name is uninventive – easyJet in-flight – but it’s a nicely presented magazine with a lot of classy pictures and not too many adverts. Each issue starts with an events calendar for the following month and regulars include “Upfront” – a Q&A with a celebrity – fashion, a guide to property, a business section and destination guides.

The destination guides section is especially impressive – 18 countries are covered with information about the main cities to which easyJet fly. Getting to the city centre from the airport, eating, night life, key areas, insider’s tips and day trips are all written up. The info is perfect for giving you enough knowledge to get around a city on a weekend break or for those who have left their Lonely Planet at home. And, as the magazine says "there’s no need to rip the pages out – this is your copy, so take the whole magazine with you!"

The features in the April edition include a Spotlight on Prague, ten full pages at the back of the magazine, telling you everything you could want to know; a debate on “the glass ceiling for women in Europe;” the obligatory article about The Da Vinci Code, this one tracing the landmarks of the book; and a foodies’ guide to Paris.

The magazine is refreshingly free from easyJet PR: no letter from the MD, no guide to food or duty free shopping available onboard and only one article (about long-distance couples whose love blossoms because they can always fly to meet each other) that specifically promotes the interests of the airline.

On the down side, there are a surprising amount of typos, grammatical errors and occasionally slightly shoddy writing. We got the feeling that just one more proof read would have improved the magazine no end. Overall, though, it’s a nicely put together magazine, with a huge amount of articles to read. Definitely enough to keep you entertained for a good few hours.

© Cheapflights Ltd Sabrina Wolfe

Comments

[James Boyd]

Glad you enjoyed the range of in-flight entertainment options aboard SIA. Look for an even broader range of options when SIA launches the new A380 later this year.

James Boyd, Singapore Airlines