Jaunted

In-Flight Magazines / iPad Travel Apps / Qantas / Airline News / iPad / In-Flight WiFi / Technology / A380 / → All Tags

The Australian Way Becomes an iPad App

It is always relaxing to thumb through an in-flight magazine, whether it is for destination guides or to test your mathematical prowess with a good game of sudoku. A huge bummer is when we open a previously loved periodical to find articles ripped out or kids "art" scribbled over exactly what we want to read. Qantas has come to the rescue and guaranteed an unread copy of their in-flight mag, The Australian Way. Kinda...

Our friends down under have launched an iPad app for the entire issue of their monthly glossy. Travelers that prefer to load all their reading material onto a touch screen can do so with the airline's free application. March 2012 marks the inaugural digital issue of the award winning magazine ready for download. From hotels and grooming to music and celeb interviews, readers of the magazine can get their in-flight fix even while not flying the red kangaroo.

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Don't Check the Seatback; These Airline In-Flight Magazines are on Your iPad

Pay attention, because you may never hear us admit this again: in-flight magazines aren't all that bad. Actually, some are quite good! We've been known to actually take them home and read the articles or—gasp—rip out pages and magnet them to our fridge for future reference. If you're a closet fan of in-flight magazines like we are, then this is your time, friend; more and more airlines are moving their print rags to be in more than just your seat-back pocket, but in your iPad too (and iPad 2).

Here's the airlines and their iTunes-downloadable iPad magazines:

United/Continental Hemispheres: This is the newest player on the scene, as the merger airline only launched their iPad version earlier this month. March is the first issue, featuring the Mexican Riviera and Peru's culinary scene. Happily it makes great use of iPad's interactive features, allowing for 360-degree image views, videos and direct links to buy advertised products (of course advertised creatively). Hemisphere is free to download direct from iTunes HERE.

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In-Flight Magazines / AirTran / Airlines / Airline News / In-Flight Entertainment / → All Tags

AirTran's In-Flight Magazine Takes Top Honors, But the Focus is Still on WiFi

AirTran needs to take it easy with their in-flight entertainment offerings. They’ve had satellite radio for like ever, they WiFi-a-fied all their planes, and now the airline was picked for having the best in-flight magazine. Maybe it’s time to just leave the iPod at home and stick with their offerings—probably not.

The North American Travel Journalists Association selected their magazine—go—as the best magazine up in the skies for 2009. AirTran will bring the hardware home—we assume there’s some tacky trophy—this May in Reno at the association’s annual conference. Good news for the airline, but we really don’t know how any organization could pick a best in-flight magazine.

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Southwest Gets Its Own Special Slanket Skymall Cover Starring Santa!

Everyone loves SkyMall, the ridiculous shopper's catalog found on flights around the world. We're not sure anyone would actually buy anything featured on these pages but if you forgot your reading material, SkyMall will keep you highly entertained during take-off and landing. (For an analytical look at the products featured in SkyMall, we highly recommend perusing through Gadling's extensive SkyMall Monday posts.)

Yet while we're accustomed to seeing ridiculous things inside the pages of SkyMall, we were shocked to find Southwest Airlines on the COVER of a SkyMall magazine. Even worse, everyone pictured in the Southwest cabin is wearing Slankets. Yes, slankets! But that's not all. Guess who's handing out the slankets? SANTA. Southwest + Slankets + Santa = Serendipitous SkyMall Silliness. And in our opinion, the best in-flight magazine cover of the year.

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Air France Magazine: Like U.S. In-Flights, Only Fatter and More Artsy

We recently flew Air France between Dulles and Charles de Gaulle, giving me the chance to pore through one more in-flight magazine, the aptly-named Air France Magazine. As it turns out, Air France Magazine is a lot like an American in-flight, only fatter. It's fatter, of course, because every article is published in both French and English, a polite gesture to passengers such as me. But other than that, it seems to cater to the same demographic, rich (or aspirational) travelers obsessed with health, beauty, and duty-free items.

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Hemispheres Sticks to the Classics, Sky Gets Busy

Airlines have cut out just about every perk imaginable, but for now, you'll still find an in-flight magazine in the seat pocket in front of you, tucked between the barf bag and SkyMall catalog. As a service to those readers who choose airlines based on the quality of their in-flight magazines, Jaunted is publishing a series that takes a look at the flagship magazines from airlines big and small. In the fourth installment, Victor Ozols notices a sharp difference in style between United's Hemispheres and Delta's Sky.

I've recently had the good fortune to get my hands on the April, 2009 issues of both United's Hemispheres magazine and Delta's Sky magazine, and a casual comparison reveals some sharp differences in editorial philosophy. One represents a traditional approach to in-flight reading, while the other seems determined to provide a digital experience in a paper format.

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In-Flight Magazine Extravaganza, Part III: A Double Dose of Continental

Airlines have cut out just about every perk imaginable, but for now, you'll still find an in-flight magazine in the seat pocket in front of you, tucked between the barf bag, emergency procedures card, and SkyMall catalog. As a service to those readers who choose airlines based on the quality of their in-flight magazines, Jaunted is publishing a multi-part series that takes a look at the flagship magazines from airlines big and small. In the third installment, Victor Ozols pores over the December, 2008 and January, 2009 issues of Continental, the in-flight magazine of Continental Airlines.

We flew Continental round-trip to Phoenix from Newark over the holidays, and were rewarded with not one but two issues of their surprisingly high-quality in-flight magazine, which is cleverly titled Continental. I didn't expect too much when I pulled out the December issue (left), with its "Hurricane Fighters" cover. Hey, I'm not saying Houston Mayor Bill White and Judge Ed Emmett aren't sexy as hell, but the cover didn't really "pop," to use the lingo of the graphic designers I know. But once I started thumbing through it, I quickly came to the conclusion that Continental could almost be a "real" travel magazine, escaping the confines of the seat pocket and crawling to the racks at Barnes & Noble under its own power.

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What We're Reading / In-Flight Magazines / Magazines / Travel Media / Airlines / Delta / → All Tags

In-Flight Magazine Extravaganza, Part II: Delta Sky

Airlines have cut out just about every perk imaginable, but for now, you'll still find an in-flight magazine in the seat pocket in front of you, tucked between the barf bag, emergency procedures card and the SkyMall catalog. As a service to those readers who choose airlines based on the quality of their in-flight magazines, Jaunted is publishing a multi-part series that takes a look at the flagship reads from airlines big and small. Today, Brendan Spiegel gets hopped up on Delta Sky.

I usually don't spend much time flipping through in-flight mags--SkyMall is my preferred source for ogling unnecessary luxury items I'll never be able to afford. But on a recent Delta shuttle from BWI to Logan, Delta Sky actually grabbed my attention.

The reason was the theme of the November issue, which focuses on my drug of choice: Coffee. I was impressed that the magazine committed itself so fully to the cover subject. Almost every item in the book is java-centric, from notes on Costa Rican coffee tours, to coffee cocktail recipes (note to self: remember to check out Rosa Mexicano's Patron-and-dulce-de-leche concoction) and even a "coffee break" crossword puzzle. This seems like a risky business decision: If a tea drinker picks up Delta Sky this month, you've lost them at hello. But for my caffeine-obsessed self, it was perfect.

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In-Flight Magazine Extravaganza, Part I : American Way

It's an all-too-common scenario. You've made it to your seat, stowed your carry-on bag in the overhead bin, and fastened your seat belt securely when you realize that you've forgotten to bring any reading material. What will you do to pass the time? Don't worry: airlines have cut out just about every perk imaginable, but for now, you'll still find an in-flight magazine in the seat pocket in front of you, tucked between the barf bag, emergency procedures card, and SkyMall catalog. As a service to those readers who choose airlines based on the quality of their in-flight magazines, Jaunted is publishing a multi-part series that takes a look at the flagship magazines from airlines big and small. In the first installment, Victor Ozols pores over the November 15, 2008 issue of American Way, the in-flight magazine of American Airlines.

I'll admit to being a fan of in-flight magazines. Though generally bland and inoffensive, there's a cheerful peppiness inherent to them that makes every flight seem like it's going to Disney World. I nabbed a copy of American Way on a recent trip on American Airlines and found plenty of nifty articles on food, destinations, and quirky attractions. But, as is the case with every in-flight magazine I've ever read, the best part is the route map at the end.

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