As the plane stabilizes at its optimal cruising altitude of 38,000 feet, you pull out from the seatback the flight magazine, the cover of which is filled with images of glory and happiness. poached. With all airlines providing the same service (flights), branding is the key to gaining a competitive advantage. The in-flight magazine is becoming an essential product through which airlines can promote their brand, sell products and build relationships with their passengers. The magazine provides advertisers with a highly sought after and attentive audience as onboard questions and airport transfer information require reference to the magazine. The reach of these magazines is also wide, making them very attractive to advertisers. For example, Qantas carries more than 13 million passengers per year and 65,000 magazines are printed every month (Geels). In-flight magazines, however innocuous or innocent they may appear ideologically, prove powerful in illustrating the values ​​to which a traveler should adhere. Advertisements reflect the company and the people they advertise to. They therefore transmit meanings and messages about what normal social behavior is. Flying, although cheaper today than in the past, is reserved for the wealthiest in society; those who have the freedom and means to travel by plane. Advertisements in airline magazines are subtle ways of sorting passengers into those who are socially and culturally acceptable and those who are not. When you start to get bored or want to know more about the Airbus A380 you're traveling in, you open the magazine to the first page. Looking at you is an advertisement for Mont Blanc with Nicolas Cage. This advertisement was featured in the August addition of the inter...... middle of paper ......tter and globetrotting is an opportunity to adhere to a lifestyle and style international, fashionable and sophisticated lifestyles” (Thurlow & Jaworski 601). Qantas advertisements from Netjets and Mont Blanc promote a lifestyle of indulgence, comfort and luxury that can be purchased, usually at a considerable price. The recurring challenge for airlines has been to match different consumer perceptions across countries and cultures. The ads are aimed at those who are rich in time and money and have the means to pursue activities like buying ridiculously expensive watches and chartering planes. Advertisements promote Western ideals of consumption and belonging in which they socially and culturally distinguish those who fly from those who do not. A passenger's identity is constructed by in-flight magazines as a privileged, economically free air traveler..