How Do You Pass Time When You Fly?

When you are flying for work or pleasure, do you read the provided-for airline magazine materials or do you bring your own? Do you find any value in what the airline magazines provide?

I read quickly thankfully, so I’m able to read a lot more in a block of time. I tend to go through the airline magazines pretty quickly to read up what is happening from a travel perspective, and use that time to imagine event-scouting in certain locales, or places I want to check out. I study advertising and marketing strategies in print ads, and I spend a lot of time (when I’m not sleeping) brainstorming on new ideas based on what I see covered in magazines. I do think the airline magazines have gotten a lot better over the years from flying on Delta and US Airways over the years.

I’m a stickler about not riding the line when it comes to getting to the airport on-time and having enough time to get through security. As a result, I have a lot of downtime to browse the airport mall shops (a ton in Charlotte, NC and Atlanta, GA, especially). I tend to pick up magazines like O, Martha Stewart Living, to refresh my mind, or if I’m lucky, gay media or MMA or pro wrestling-related publications to catch up on my industry, but that doesn’t happen too often. Sometimes I will buy newspapers to take back with me to study more closely in regions I am not in constantly, but that doesn’t happen as much as it used to.

I’m also a owner of an Amazon Kindle 2 and when I flew last, I was able to read a complete autobiography between flying back and forth from home. I’m a e-book reader advocate for the last two years as a result. I like have everything on one device and I feel like I read a lot faster on the e-reader, instead of holding the book in my hands. There was nothing appealing to me about taking books city to city which I see many travelers do. Every time I fly, I am always asked about my Kindle because people don’t see the device up-close and have questions. I just downloaded a subscription to Poets and Writers Magazine this past week on my Kindle to try out the magazine experience on there. I do tend to read the magazine faster than I would normally, but the experience is not the same since it is not in color and lacks many graphics. I’m going to keep the subscription however, because it’s going to be useful for me and takes up less space than getting it back in the mail. Once I get a iPad, I think I’ll be reading more magazines on there, but I’m not sure if I want to completely get rid of all literal magazines in my life. There’s something really organic for me about being able to read Everyday with Rachael Ray and other magazines in my hands instead of on a screen.

I’m curious and hopeful that the airline magazines will offer complimentary (probably the favorite buzz word in the travel and hospitality industry) magazines on e-readers/iPads and take the experience of their publications to the next level.