Southwest Airlines Brings Free E-Books to In-Flight Entertainment Offering

By Dianna Dilworth 

southwestWe’ve often wondered when books would be offered as in-flight entertainment here at GalleyCat. For years, Virgin America had books listed on its entertainment module only to be greeted with a “coming soon” note, before it was removed altogether.

But the promise has finally come true thanks to a new partnership between Southwest Airlines, e-book company Kobo and Bauer Communications. Together the companies are making free e-books available to passengers on Southwest planes while the planes are in flight.

Hundreds of digital titles will be available to fliers from Kobo’s digital reading platform via the airline’s inflight entertainment portal. The offering includes full books and extended previews bestsellers and new releases from publishers including: Penguin Random House, HarperCollins Publishers LLC, Simon & Schuster, Inc., Hachette Book Group, Macmillan Publishers, and Open Road Media, among others.

Travelers can use their own WiFi-enabled devices to connect to the entertainment portal and access the titles. After the flight, readers will get a follow up email with information on how to purchase the e-book if they want.