Why I fly and report on inaugural flights
The professional value I find in inaugural flights, and why I find them worth covering.
Hello everyone, and happy New Year’s!
Starting this one off with a clarification: This post is about why I personally find value in covering inaugural flights for work, and why I accept or pitch the assignments. It is not about why my employer finds value in me covering them, or in assigning them out. Even though there’s overlap, I’m not speaking for TPG, nor am I speaking towards TPG’s editorial strategy. So with that out of the way…
I recently traveled from San Fransisco to Christchurch, New Zealand, on United’s inaugural flight on the route. It’s a route that I find particularly fascinating, both for the very-long-haul nature of it, and because it partly encapsulates United’s fascinating and risky expansion strategy. Covering the flight was a great work experience, and you can read more about it at TPG.
Read more: United's bold expansion plan: Onboard the airline's inaugural flight to New Zealand's South Island
A frequent question and criticism that I hear about inaugural flights is that they’re not really representative of the actual day-to-day experience on the routes, so what’s the point of covering them? They’re not useful as a review. And that’s a fair point.
First, let’s be clear on what an inaugural story basically is. It’s a (usually) fun, (usually) light-hearted look behind-the-scenes at an inherently limited-capacity party. It’s not a review.
For airlines that choose to make an event out of them, inaugural flights tend to feature some combination of special menus with an extra focus on quality control of the catering, parties at the gate and at arrival, souvenirs, speeches from executives, and a really personal interaction with the crew. Particularly in business class, but also in coach. That’s all different from a normal flight.
Does that’s mean inaugural coverage is inherently a softball? Sometimes, yes, though not always. I cover the highs and lows of air travel and the airline industry, and our readers come along with us. Especially now, after the devastation of Covid, it’s just pleasant to take the occasional lighter behind-the-scenes story, and to cover fun events that help shrink the world and take us to new places, rather than the bankruptcies, cancellations and furloughs I spent 2020 covering, and the day-to-day technicalities financial aspects, meltdowns, and unruly passengers I normally cover.
We do formal flight reviews, and obviously this is a different type of story. So if the service obviously isn’t what the real flight will look like, what’s the point?
There are two overarching reasons.
First, a lot of readers are interested in reading about these inaugurals (again, speaking for myself here, I always think about what stories of mine readers tend to engage with, against with what’s newsworthy and should be covered, along with what I personally find interesting and want to delve into. Then I try and strike the right balance between the three. The EIC at my previous job referred to this as the “Venn diagram” model).
The airlines occupy a special place in the hearts of many. You can see this at the inaugurals themselves: people who spend their own money (or miles) and time to be on these flights, immerse themselves in the experience, enjoy the grandiosity of it.
People can even make friends this way; I met some passengers who had become friends through a Facebook group, spun off of a bigger group for United 1K and Global Services frequent flyers, where, among other things, they plan meetups on inaugurals. People want to experience the special meals, see the swag, hear what the execs and pilots have to say.
And obviously there are only so many seats on a flight, especially in a premium cabin, so not everyone can go. Plus, not everyone can spare the time, the expense, or the stamina associated with flying halfway around the world and only staying a few days, if that.
So for those who can’t make it, I enjoy the opportunity to try to bring you inside the experience, show you what it’s like, what happens, what the airline envisions, and make it so that you can see what to expect if you ever try to go on one of these. And people read these stories and respond to them, so clearly, it’s worth the effort for me.
Second, these flights often have executives from across the airline on board. That includes people from the communications team, with whom my colleagues and I work every day, so it’s helpful to spend some time in the field working with them. Folks from social media, who we might not have the chance to directly meet otherwise, but who have unique access and perspective on the behind-the-scenes of the airline. Heads of various programs or departments, like loyalty or experience or operations, who, by being on the flight, I can chat with, both on and off the record, which can help inform our coverage going forward, or let us know what to expect, broadly. I can spend time with the head of network planning, for instance, and get exclusive, candid interviews that we otherwise wouldn’t — as I’ve said before, in-flight and on-site interviews are inherently unique — helping peel back the curtain on the airline’s plans and what to expect from them.
During the flight and after landing, there’s a chance to talk with pilots and flight attendants without being in the way, and there are sometimes other industry people on the flights, like analysts, who are always great to connect with, both professionally and socially.
For me, that’s unquestionably worth the time and effort. The story I get from the inaugural is something that many readers want to see, and it’s a treat for me to get to bring that to them. We get to meet readers, AvGeeks, and regular passengers who happened to be on the inaugural, all of whom help me better understand the airline’s customers and the market for the flight. I get face time with the communications staffers we correspond with by phone and email all the time, which is certainly worthwhile. I get insightful and interesting interviews. And I get to chat with executives and employees to gain greater insight into various aspects of the airline, which, even if I don’t include that specifically in a story, can help inform and shape our future coverage.
To be sure, not every airline has the same approach to their inaugurals. Some reserve the spectacle for only their biggest routes, or the first flights on new aircraft types. Some stay under the radar for everything.
That obviously changes the calculus. Sometimes there’s still a story that can only be told by being on the flight, even without all of the extras — at the very least, that can make an opportunity for a more review-oriented story — while sometimes, any story that may emerge can be told while staying home.
I haven’t finalized my plans for next year yet, but hopefully any special flights I’m on are as interesting as the trip to Christchurch was.