Culturally Sorting Airline Passengers

As the airplane levels off at it’s optimal cruising altitude of 38,000 feet, you pull out the in-flight magazine, whose cover is filled with images of fame and happiness, from the seat-back pocket. Through all airlines providing the same service (flights), branding is the key to achieving a competitive advantage. The in-flight magazine becomes a vital product through which airlines can promote their brand, sell products and build relationships with their passengers. The magazine offers advertisers a highly desirable and attentive audience given that both on-board matters and airport transfer information require reference to the magazine. The reach of these magazines is also broad, which makes them very appealing for advertisers. For example, Qantas carries more than 13 million passengers annually, and each month 65,000 magazines are printed (Geels). In-flight magazines, however ideologically benign or innocent they may seem, prove to be powerful by illustrating the values to which a traveler should adhere. Advertisements mirror society and the people they advertise to, therefore, they convey meanings and messages about what is normal social behavior. Flying, although less expensive now than in the past, is reserved for the better off in society; those who have the freedom and means to travel by plane. Airline magazine advertisements are subtle ways of sorting passengers into those who are socially and culturally acceptable airline travelers and those who are not.

As you begin to get bored or seek to learn more about the Airbus A380 you’re flying in, you flip open the magazine to the first page. Staring at you is an advertisement for Mont Blanc with Nicolas Cage. This advertisement was in the August addition of Qantas’ 2012 inter...

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...tter and the globe-trotter is an opportunity to buy into a way of life and a lifestyle which is international, fashionable and sophisticated” (Thurlow & Jaworski 601). Qantas’ advertisements from Netjets and Mont Blanc promote a lifestyle of indulgence, comfort and luxury which can be purchased, usually at a considerable price. The recurring challenge for airlines has been to match differing consumer perceptions across nations and cultures. Advertisements speak to those who are rich in time and money and have the means to pursue activities like buying ridiculously expensive watches and chartering jets. Advertisements promote Western ideals of consumption and belonging in which they socially and culturally sort those who fly from those who don’t fly. A passenger’s identity is constructed by inflight magazines as an airline traveler of privilege and economic freedom.