Qantas is making domestic flying a touch more productive and informative with the launch of multiple digital news partnerships. The airline will now screen ABC News updates in its lounges and onboard the domestic jet fleet. Keep an eye out if you’re on a Boeing 737 with drop-down screens.
The deal with ABC will include two bespoke bulletins a day. Previously, the Red Roo screened Sky News Australia around its network.
And from 1 August 2022, passengers connecting to Qantas’ free lounge and onboard Wi-Fi will enjoy complimentary access to content on The Australian and The Australian Financial Review, which both usually lock premium content behind a paywall.
Qantas Chief Customer Officer, Stephanie Tully, says that the revamped digital options will help passengers stay across the day’s events while travelling.
We’re delighted to have ABC News bulletins on board across domestic flights and, for those who like to consume their news online, full access to The Australian and the Financial Review is on offer through our free Wi-Fi.
– Stephanie Tully, Qantas Chief Customer Officer, 1 July 2022
Which other airlines offer digital partnerships?
This isn’t the first time that Qantas has offered access to digital publications. Back in 2015, Qantas signed a deal with PressReader to provide access to thousands of newspapers and magazines globally. But this was quietly stopped sometime in late 2017 and hasn’t been revived since.
Many other airlines around the globe still partner with PressReader to provide passengers with access to publications, including:
Meanwhile, American Express Platinum Card Members used to be able to enjoy a full complimentary membership to The Australian Financial Review. But that ended in early 2021, with a premium subscription to The Australian and The Wall Street Journal now included instead.
American Express Platinum Card
- Sign-up Bonus:
- 220,000 bonus Membership Rewards Points¹
- Rewards Earn Rate:
- Earn 2.25 Membership Rewards points per $1 on all eligible purchases, except for spend with government bodies, for which you will earn 1 point per $1 spent
- Annual Fee:
- $1,450 p.a.
- Offer expires
- 14 April 2026
- Enjoy a bespoke offer of 220,000 bonus Membership Rewards Points¹ when you spend $5,000 on eligible purchases in the first 3 months. (Offer available to new American Express Card Members only. Offer ends 14 April 2026. T&Cs apply.) Unlock premium perks including unlimited airport lounge access, international travel insurance, Amex Hotels and Resorts benefits, up to $400 in Global Dining Credit¹⁰, and a $450 Travel Credit⁵ each year. Earn up to 2.25 Membership Rewards Points per $1 on eligible spend. The annual fee is $1,450.
At least when you fly Qantas from August 2022, you’ll have access to both publications in the lounge and onboard. But it doesn’t beat the variety that we used to enjoy with PressReader!
Surprised so many people like ABC – about the most biased media outlet in Australia. I for one welcome AFR.
Thank goodness they’ve finally removed that Sky News gutter trash from the QF lounges.
The Australian newspaper is also utter right wing garbage – that rag has been banned from our house for over 10 years, ever since they ran a multiple page campaign against setting up the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to protect their priestly kiddy fiddling buddies. A vile publication.
Murdoch and his phone tapping tribe are a cancer in the body of ethical journalism.
Shame on anyone who hands over even a dollar to News Corp in its various forms.
It’s very ironic that The Australian campaigns so vociferously to undermine the national broadcaster, when the latter is subject to a Charter and the Murdoch minions have no stands of accountability.
Oh forgot to mention right wing populist divisive rag The Australian is bad at the best of times . All one needed to do was watch their “journalists” sway and blow with the prevailing wind yet at the same time support the LNP Coalition and denigrate any opposition, as long as it’s readers posting in comments. How far we have fallen!!! It was a real slap in the face to have our Platinum Amex freebie changed from AFR to Murdoch’s rag The Oztrayan
Sky News = The Australian = Murdoch behemoth media which controls not only maority of Aussie media but also in the UK and USA Just my 1 cent’s worth
Excellent choice by Qantas to drop Sky News. The outlet was at odds with Qantas’ core values so it’s a wonder they were picked up to begin with.
A good decision to drop Sky, a divisive outlet with credibility in the gutter. They picked up the tender by undercutting Nine when it was the supplier, and the quality it provided to Qantas was on par with the price it cost the airliner too.