One of the things I love most about flying is reading the in-flight magazine. They are often full of pithy, fascinating and topical stories – not only about particular destinations, but broader trends and happenings within the arts, business, fashion and society. It can be tricky to break into writing for in-flight publications, so I spoke to a number of writers and an editor of an airline magazine to get the scoop on what you need to know in order to see your by-line the next time you take to the skies.
A few months before I started this blog, I came across Diana Hubbell’s article about Oktoberfest in Voyeur magazine (Virgin Australia’s inflight magazine). I was so impressed by her writing and the narrative arc of the piece that I reached out to interview her.
The magazines that are linked to airlines are often prestigious and seen as the Holy Grail in travel writing and often showcase great writers writing wonderful content about fascinating places and people.
Earlier this year I started developing my focus on travel and food writing and started pitching editors of in-flight publications.
There are over 250 in-flight magazines – so there are plenty of opportunities to get published – but there are some things that are important to know when writing for airline magazines as opposed to regular magazines and newspapers.
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Write for in-flight magazines: Look at where the airline flies to
This may seem really obvious, but before you pitch or send a query letter to an editor, look at the destinations where the airline flies. If you want to pitch a story about a city, country or area that the airline doesn’t fly to, it’s very unlikely it’ll get picked up, no matter how great your idea is.
Freelance journalist Rebecca Weber says pitching to in-flights is similar to other magazines in that writers need to see what topics the publication covers, together with the angles and formats they prefer. “But the one main difference is that they (or possibly their partner) must fly to or near any destinations mentioned,” Rebecca says. “I wrote a cover story about [singer] Bonnie Raitt for a US inflight years ago, and they listed all her upcoming tour dates in cities they serviced.”
Editors will come looking for you
I know a number of writers who have been approached by in-flight magazines to write for them. This is often because the writers are well-known experts on a particular area or topic or because they live in a destination that the airline wants to feature.
But in order for editors to come to you with commissions, they need to be able to find you. “More recently, I was contacted by an editor who I’d never worked with,” says Rebecca. “To help make this happen, make sure to update your website with the subjects you cover and your location – in this case, design and architecture in Cape Town.”
I’d also add that putting the key words ‘travel writer based in [destination]’ in your LinkedIn profile is important.
Once you’ve got an editor’s ear, talk!
Freelance writer and communications consultant Monica McInnes responded to a call out from the editor of Air Niugini’s in-flight magazine on TravMedia. “The editor replied positively, but declined the pitch,” Monica says. “He said he would love to hear about other pitches I may have. So, that was my ‘in’! I researched the mag and the destination covered by the airline.”
Monica then pitched a story about Singapore’s remnants of World War II. “I had this story already on my radar and not many ideas for where it could be placed,” she says. “Given it was timely with the 75th anniversary of the war, and Papua New Guinea’s WWII involvement I already noticed that the magazine had started to touch on these themes with some of its stories. So I pitched my idea to the travel section and drew on the previous contact I had had with the editor as part of my lead into the pitch.”
Monica was commissioned and the article was published in Air Niugini’s in-flight magazine.
While she is still trying to break into ‘bigger’ airline magazines, Monica has some tips for freelance travel writers looking to pitch. “I have started to follow leads about new routes and keeping on top of airline ‘news’ to help craft a timely pitch for a destination the in-flight mag hasn’t covered before,” she says. “I would also like to think that perhaps sometimes looking at the smaller airlines, rather than the likes of Qantas and Virgin could be another ‘in’ to the in-flight mag market.”
You don’t always need to travel
Emily McAuliffe is a travel writer and copywriter who lives in Portugal. Emily has written for Qantas, Tigerair, Jetstar, Aer Lingus and has been approached by a couple of other in-flight magazines to write for them (see, it does happen!).
Like Rebecca and Monica, Emily believes that it’s crucial to know the publication well and the types of stories they cover, but says once you’re in, it’s often easier to get repeat commissions. “I’ve even had some direct approaches from other magazine editors who now view me as a destination expert,” she says. “I think it also helps to know the destination you want to write about well as editors often appreciate that you can provide better content when you have insider knowledge. I got my break by pitching about my home city and other places I was familiar with.”
Many freelance writers don’t necessarily have the time or resources for big trips (especially when you are starting out), so focusing on your local area can be a win-win when pitching to in-flight magazines.
I write regularly for one of Australia’s most popular food magazines, and my first story for them was a food and travel feature about the regional town where I live. Since I pitched that initial story in mid-2016, I’ve gone on three trips around Australia for articles for the publication.
Write for in-flight magazines: An editor’s perspective
I asked one of my editors of an in-flight magazine I write for to answer some questions about how freelance writers can maximise their chances of getting a ‘yes’ when they send in a pitch or query letter.
The editor has asked not to be named (along with the publication) as she didn’t want to have to go through upper management to get her responses signed off.
The magazine she edits has a readership of around 7 million people per year (I know, right?!) and produces 12 magazines annually.
This is what she says:
1. For writers who are pitching for the first time, it’s always helpful to provide a link to an online portfolio so editors can see if the new writer’s style would be a good fit for the magazine. Some writers are great at short, sharp upfront pieces, while others are better at sustaining an engaging 1,500-2000 word pieces, so an online portfolio would better help the editors determine how to commission the writer.
2. A great pitch should always have a “hook” – something that makes the story worth reading even if the material may be already somewhat familiar or not timely. For instance, I recently received a two-line pitch about an “under-the-radar wine region” in California.
I am not inclined to pick up this story as there’s no angle. If the writer could have included more info (which I’m making up here), such as “This region has not just been producing fine Cabernets, but is also home to a few fully biodynamic vineyards” – my interest would have been piqued.
I’d say that pitch-writing is actually a very underrated skill that writers should work at refining – it should be able to properly sum up the story in 100 – 150 words and have the following: a strong angle, suggestions for interviewees and, if possible, a suggestion on how the writer sees the structure of the piece (Profile? Run-on?)
3. Editors are usually trying to keep a few balls in the air at the same time, so writers shouldn’t expect immediate replies from them. With that being said, personally, I don’t mind the occasional nudge from writers to see if their pitches have been received – I will usually reply to accept or reject the pitch, as I understand that writers may want to pitch the story to other publications.
However, I had this one writer – whom I’ve never used – who emailed me almost every week to see if I’ve received her email. And while her persistence is admirable, I felt so frazzled from her incessant emails that I don’t feel inclined to try her out at all!
4. I would also add that editors are more inclined to use writers again if:
(a) they are extremely responsive over email to help with captions, edits, or to hook us up with the interviewees of the story for photo commissions. I would hesitate to work with writers who take more than 3 days to reply an email as we are working with tight deadlines – probably even more so than newsstand titles as the magazines have to be on-board the planes on the 1st of every month, no matter what.
The whole magazine also needs to be sent to the airline for approval before the whole thing goes to print – another factor that newsstand titles don’t have to worry about. For me, personally, responsiveness is paramount because the title I’m working on runs in two languages, so I need to factor time required for translation into the production process.
Sometimes the country where the magazine is produced is not necessarily where the airline is based. So, the whole thing needs to go through the entire process and be approved by the airline before the magazine is sent to the printers in the country where the airline is based.
(b) writers take edits in their stride. I’d say that more than 80 per cent of articles submitted to editors have to be sent back to the writers (although some second drafts require more work than others). Sometimes it’s because the structure doesn’t work, or maybe the tone needs to be tweaked to suit the “vibe” of the magazine. The last thing editors need is to juggle more egos – although I do take particular care in being thoughtful when I send back stories for re-working.
Hot tips
“Tailor your idea to suit a particular section of the magazine” – Emily McAuliffe
“Keep an eye on flight routes opening up, since airlines will be keen to promote any new destinations they fly to” – Emily McAuliffe
“You need to make sure you are covering a destination that the airline flies to. Then you need to make sure that the angle is one that hasn’t been recently covered, or a run-of-the-mill angle. Or perhaps it’s a destination easily accessible from the main airport that the airline services” – Monica McInnes
If you’re looking for ideas of where else to pitch your travel writing – look no further than Gabi Logan’s Travel Magazine Database (affiliate link) – this is an incredible resource for writers to get detailed breakdowns of hundreds of travel magazines in addition to the 30 magazines new breakdowns a month for $20/month. (You can also save two months’ membership fees when you opt for an annual subscription.)
For more tips on breaking into travel writing try these posts:
6 great travel publications that pay freelance writers
Getting sponsorship for travel
Travelling the world with Nina Karnikowski
Do you write for in-flight magazines? Do you have any tips to add?
16 thoughts on “Write for in-flight magazines: How freelance writers can break in”
A really excellent post Lindy, I love how you’ve looked at the subject in depth and answered all the nitty gritty questions and interviewed writers and an editor as well. You’re so good at this stuff! I’d never considered writing for inflight magazines as I never travel, but you’ve made me think about the amazing cities I live near, including one which is a World Heritage Site and another with is leading the way in the arts and culture field. I know both of them well and I can see the sense in articles being written by local writers who are really familiar with the nuances that visitors might miss. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, it is much appreciated.
Thanks Claire 🙂 Editors of in-flight magazines love a writer with deep destination knowledge so go for it! Sounds like you live in an ideal place for thinking about pitching to these kinds of publications.
I’m writing my first inflight mag commission this week and thankfully, the brief is detailed to the max. I’ll be writing about Bangkok.
Thanks for the LinkedIn tip. I did this immediately after reading it.
Yay – that’s great. I love a detailed brief!
I found out my commission is for the airline’s blog – with no guarantee of a byline – not the inflight mag. Oh well, it’s a toe in the door. And, I got another one today so that’s 2 blog posts for them this week. Yay!
Ah, that’s disappointing, but like you say the door has opened. And sounds like they are hungry for content too, so that’s great.
Thanks for this article! I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and sometimes wonder if this destination is talked about way too much. Maybe I can think of some fun new angles for travel magazines, since a lot of airlines come here!
Thanks Kristin, I think the beauty of places like San Fran is that there is always something going on – and airline mags love to drill down and explore quirky subcultures or profiling people doing interesting things – so I imagine there would be lots in your area who fit that bill!
Found your blog ten minutes ago and I’ve already learnt so much! :)))
I just wrote my first two commissioned articles for WorldNomads and wow… it feels SO good! English is not my first language but I have been an expat for years now. The angle for my pitch was that I love to share insider information from an expat perspective. With all the knowledge you share here I will be able to plan my next steps! ¡Gracias!
Hi Martin, thank you and welcome!
Well done of your articles for WorldNomads – it’s such a great feeling. And especially impressive that you’re writing in your second language.
Good luck with it all – and be sure to let me know how you’re going!
Hello!
I would just like to ask about photography. Is it necessary that the writer submit photos as well? You see, I just do the writing for a travel magazine here in our country, the Philippines, but I would love to write for an airline as well. I know I take good photographs, but my equipments are not up to par for publication. What are your thoughts this ?
Thank you for the tips…
Willy Marbella
Hi Willy,
Thanks for your comment. My experience of inflight magazines is that for features they will usually commission a photographer to provide the images and for shorter articles and FOBs (front of book) articles (around 200 – 400 words) they will ask the writer to provide images. I don’t take any photographs, so I usually source images from the venues or the tourism board.
Hope that helps?
Thanks for this article Lindy. I have been writing for an in-flight magazine for a local airline in my country (Zambia) for about 4 years now and I’ve written for one based in Nigeria in the past. Currently hoping to write for larger airlines as an international airline just announced that they will be flying to Zambia in December, so I’m hoping to pitch for their next issue.
Thanks for your comment Mazuba, it sounds like the perfect time to pitch to the publication of the international airline soon to start flying to Zambia. Let me know how you go!
Once again, thanks for this article Lindy and for responding to my comment. I have a question about how to use twitter to ask an editor for their email. I looked up an inflight magazine’s masthead online and there were no emails listed for the team. I googled the Ed in Chief and
found a twitter account, so I followed them and they are now following me. How do I ask for an email to pitch in a professional manner? Also, if you see a general email listed, do you email that general email asking for the editors email?
Hi Mazuba, if the editor is now following you on Twitter, you should be able to send them a private message and I’d say something like, "Hi [editor], thanks so much for following me. I’m keen to pitch you an idea for [publication]. Are you the best person to pitch to, and if so, what’s the best email address to reach you on?"
I wouldn’t email a general email asking for an editor’s email address. Instead, for inflight mags, I would look at who publishes the magazine (e.g. is it published by Ink Global, Medium Rare etc) and then go and find the editor’s address that way. If you don’t have any luck – you can email me on lindy[at]lindyalexander.net and I’ll see if I can help you more.