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Published on December 22nd, 2012 | by iDidGo Blog Team

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World’s 12 best airline magazines for 2012

Exert from CNN Travel – If you fly, you know them. Maybe you even love them.

In-flight magazines can be notorious for stodgy stories, bad puns and breathless travel fluff, never mind the sudoku that’s been half filled in already.

These days, though, at least a few of these print-media warhorses are trying to raise their game.

Earlier this year, we pored over issues of as many airline mags as we could get our hands on to build the ultimate airborne reading list. Our top dozen for 2012:

12. Ryanair Magazine (Ireland)

Well, we just met, Ryanair seductress, but if you insist.

Basics: From delightfully cheesy covers (that girl in the pink dress really wants you to drink that wine) to antic “two-minute” city guides, the Irish cheap-flight empire knows its audience of travel-mad hedonists.

Perfect reader: A maturing lager lad with a decade-old soccer tattoo. He’s graduated to pricey cocktails and museums, but still channels his Viking ancestors come stag time in Tallinn.

Words: Words? Oh, right. No pseudo-literary features here. Ryanair speaks in the voice of a wised-up pal with a pint in hand.

Look: Meet Ornella, a Ryanair cabin crew member featured on a two-page spread, in her skivvies. She’s got her right thumb strategically hooked in her underpants, in fact. It’s for charity.

Gold star: Need to know the best hotel in Kaunas? Ryanair has your back.

Black mark: Journalism? Eh, don’t bother.

Verdict: A little dumb, a little demented, but lots of fun.

11. Go (AirTran, United States)

The joys of travel … and Photoshop.

Basics: In-flight magazine of the Orlando/Atlanta-based budget carrier operated by Southwest Airlines, Go keeps going with its well-designed, not-much-nonsense approach.

Perfect reader: A road warrior from Marietta, Georgia, on his way to a B-tier convention in Kansas City. He wishes he were headed for an eco-spa in Tulum.

Words: Go serves up smart travel info, with a little typical in-flight hype. That spa in Tulum provides the “ultimate decadence,” of course. But a recent issue also includes a witty guide to Vegas on US$25 a day and lots of precise tips.

Look: Graphic mini-stories in the magazine’s opening section dissect a staggering number of destinations, products and events.

Gold star: Every mag does “by the numbers” stories, but Go’s city stats pages make eye-catching intros to AirTran destinations. It’s neverbeen colder than 5 C in Key West? Weird. Cool. Book the ticket.

Black mark: Chunky “business” features are forehead-to-tabletop obvious. Cloud computing. Heard of it?

Verdict: At its best, Go makes flying cheap seem quite fun.

10/9. Tie: Holland Herald (KLM, Netherlands) and Lufthansa Magazin(Germany)

This duo is too sensible to fight over rankings in random Internet listicles. Call it a draw.

Basics: These northern European titles are deadlocked at good but not great.

Perfect reader: A smart EU bureaucrat who just took her Ambien (Holland Herald); the love child of Angela Merkel and David Hasselhoff (Magazin).

Words: Herald stands out with some highbrow moves, like the recent “Work” issue’s interview with pop philosopher Alain de Botton, but often settles for travel cliché. Chengdu’s food scene is both “dazzling” and “idyllic”; Vienna, “fit for an emperor.”

Magazin’ssubject mix is agreeably goofy and somehow very German — the nation’s best table tennis player; a middle-aged hotel kingpin displaying his hirsute chest; big, nerdy sections on aircraft.

Look: Great photos in the Herald, while Magazin aims for hip retro-minimalism (someone’s been reading Monocle).

Gold star: Both offer solid service in bright, informative tones.

Black mark: Herald’s layout is a hodgepodge, and Magazin mostly looks as bland as its name.

Verdict: Two magazines that get the job done without being too exciting.

Like their home countries? We didn’t say that.

8. Qantas The Australian Way(Australia)

Yes, they really put salt on the cover. Don’t worry if you missed the joke — there are plenty more attempts inside.

Basics: Big, glossy, bold, brassy

Perfect reader: Every polite yet rambunctious Australian you’ve ever met.

Words: The focus is almost exclusively on luxe travel, which the magazine delivers with hearty self-confidence, imparting both its smartest tips (how to find the hidden glories the Mexican state of Chihuahua) and dumbest jokes (that same story’s sub-head: “Small dog, big destination”).

Look: The overall design could use renovation, but sprawling photos of amazing Down Under landscapes are an unbeatable trump card.

Gold star: The voluminous travel content is packed with actionable info.

Black mark: Cheese. They can’t resist a headline pun (golf feature: “Fairways to Heaven;” coastal destination profile: “Life’s a Beach”).

Final verdict: Like a chatty, informed seatmate who’s had a cocktail or two.

To read more visit CNN Travel!

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