One thing I noticed from the better-run airlines is their music selection. It's part of an attention-to-detail mentality that many airlines overlook, and a sign of good management of the air passenger experience.

Delta plays downtempo electronica music that you'd normally hear at a bar, it's very hip and trendy sounding.

Etihad plays their custom Arabic-instrumental branded theme music that's also the same hold music on their telephone reservations line.

Any others?

Emirates does:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQrNvnIYh_0

Really sets the mood for flying, especially once you step onboard the mighty A380.

Here a few more: OS plays waltzes, TP plays fado, IB plays only Spanish pop music (and Spanish carols during the holiday season) and FR used to play annoying (FR-style) adds over and over again.

LAN has this beautiful composition as their boarding music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVa6Wxnxm6w

Hopefully they keep it in the transition to LATAM or, at least, find a way to improve upon it.

ANA plays this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kB4fm_kO1us

This is actually from a popular and fairly well-known musician in Japan. I was really surprised to hear my brother-in-law playing it in his car one day, as part of a "greatest hits" CD. But I cannot remember the artist's name right now.

Anyway it's not just the generic muzak that it sounds like at first.

LOT boarding soundtrack is based on Chopin Raindrop Prelude https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1kOAY4g7a8

quic330 wrote:

Here a few more: OS plays waltzes, TP plays fado, IB plays only Spanish pop music (and Spanish carols during the holiday season) and FR used to play annoying (FR-style) adds over and over again.

FR just plays calming classical music these days. The ads are all gone, including from on the overhead bins.

British Airways play flower duet, more so on long haul, although it is common on boarding on short haul.

keitherson wrote:

One thing I noticed from the better-run airlines is their music selection. It's part of an attention-to-detail mentality that many airlines overlook, and a sign of good management of the air passenger experience.

Personally don't know if it would be too happy for an airline using the same single theme'd track on every flight. It might get an bet repetitive, where you flying a couple times a month.

Much prefer what NZ/JQ do, which is just play an selection of top40 music in the ground durring boarding and deboarding.

Perhaps most famously, UA used to play Rhapsody in Blue during boarding. They play something else now, though I think it's something completely different.

AF plays a nice selection of indie rock and other contemporary tracks. They publish their seasonal playlist:
http://music.airfrance.com/en/

flyCMH wrote:

LAN has this beautiful composition as their boarding music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVa6Wxnxm6w

Hopefully they keep it in the transition to LATAM or, at least, find a way to improve upon it.

I actually preferred the previous version!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx8FH3T ... WL&index=4

GA plays traditional Indonesian music rearranged in orchestra form. They also sell the album titled "The Sounds of Indonesia". https://www.garuda-indonesia.com/id/id/news-and-events/ga-luncurkan-album-the-sounds-of-Indonesia-volume-III.page

go to youtube and type in "airline boarding music"

Emirates, Qatar and Etihad all re-did their themes for 2016

as mentioned above, LOT plays Chopin, although the song now on their hold music and when i flew them in April was different than the one linked above.

i've noticed Icelandair playing bands from the latest or upcoming Iceland Airwaves music festival.

First time I flew JQ, which was back in 2007 they were playing their song from their advertisements of the time during boarding. I cannot for the life of me recall what this song was though.

I remember getting really tired of this "music" last time i flew on TK:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL7alMf_jC0

As a music lover I have a very hard time with all kinds of "elevator music". The crappiness of the speakers on planes don't help either.

inflightVideo wrote:

quic330 wrote:

Here a few more: OS plays waltzes, TP plays fado, IB plays only Spanish pop music (and Spanish carols during the holiday season) and FR used to play annoying (FR-style) adds over and over again.

FR just plays calming classical music these days. The ads are all gone, including from on the overhead bins.

Only from some aircraft. I was on one last week with many commercials on the overhead bins for the Costa Brava or Costa del Sol (I forget which one).

I'd like to hear the Ed Force One music...

planewasted wrote:

I remember getting really tired of this "music" last time i flew on TK:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL7alMf_jC0

As a music lover I have a very hard time with all kinds of "elevator music". The crappiness of the speakers on planes don't help either.

"Lite" Jazz mixed with bad cones. Yeah, no good. Even with good speakers.

Air Serbia produced its own soundtrack, finding inspiration in Serbian tradition and combining elements of popular, modern and electronic sounds. Not bad, I'd say.

https://youtu.be/hN8Nivmu5DM

zkncj wrote:

Personally don't know if it would be too happy for an airline using the same single theme'd track on every flight. It might get an bet repetitive, where you flying a couple times a month.

I flew QF a couple months after they launched their current promo campaign with that "Feels Like Home" song. It was the only thing they played during boarding, and it was only turned down (not off) during the flight. Five hours of being able to subtly hear that song over and over again......

LY has just started a competition to select s new boarding and landing song

Kind of on topic here... I always bring my portable CD player and CDs (yes, CD player and CDs) and am fully stocked for the flight(s). For example: Pantera during take-off, Pink Floyd during cruise, then again with the Pantera during landing... one of my favorite "configurations". Hey, at least I read the safety card(s) .

EVA (BR) Air from Taiwan plays a famous Taiwanese folk song during boarding. It's played by the Evergreen (the holding company of EVA) Symphony Orchestra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPTY_ScuRgU

If you work for an airline, you will learn to loathe or ignore boarding music. Simply because the Muzak-style is awful, repetitive and gets stuck in your head.

It's cute as a passenger if you are in the mood for it.

quic330 wrote:

Here a few more: OS plays waltzes, TP plays fado, IB plays only Spanish pop music (and Spanish carols during the holiday season) and FR used to play annoying (FR-style) adds over and over again.

Well, regarding FR... actually no.. I've had some really nice cabin music played during boarding sometimes... Not sure if it's up to the base or whatever though...

jfklganyc wrote:

If you work for an airline, you will learn to loathe or ignore boarding music. Simply because the Muzak-style is awful, repetitive and gets stuck in your head.

It's cute as a passenger if you are in the mood for it.

I was on a DL flight earlier this year and they had manually changed the music from the standard boarding music to karaoke-like versions of Top 40 songs (basically no words, just the music). I remember Pharrell's "Happy" and Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off" were two of the songs.

Putnik wrote:

Air Serbia produced its own soundtrack, finding inspiration in Serbian tradition and combining elements of popular, modern and electronic sounds. Not bad, I'd say.

https://youtu.be/hN8Nivmu5DM

Wow! This is really excellent. Beautiful music. Relaxing, groovy, sophisticated, catchy... Well done!

Hey, maybe it's because I like instrumental music a lot, but I've heard some really good stuff at times... on airlines like TK, MH and EK for instance.. I vividly remember a lovely theme played by MH during boarding and take off during the '90s. That was great.
I also remember a rather "funny" flight on a Tunisian charter carrier that played the same 2/3 songs on an extended loop throughout the ENTIRE flight..!!! crazy stuff! thank god the music was relaxing enough... I've also had "Adiemus" played during boarding, but fail to remember by which airline.. And imposing classical music by BA back in the day...
I remember lots of bossa nova-like chill out/lounge themes were played in the '70s/'80s.. those were good, and really did set the mood for "international travel", back when "international travel" by air was something pretty special in itself, and decidedly part of the holiday, unlike today.

Back in the 90s, Delta used to play Adiemus - Songs of Sanctuary as the boarding music. They even sent my dad his very own CD -- I don't know if that was for all the Platinum Medallion members or just the MIllion MIle folks, but his reaction was, "I have to hear this crap every day when I'm traveling for work. Why would I want to listen to it at home?!"

I remember this one being played on Iberia really well last year. Very relaxing, with a nice vibe, and I liked it so much it became one of my favorite songs of all time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESGzoFw ... freload=10


TAP used to have its very own song a few years ago, I don't know if they still use it on their planes or not, but it was a pretty good song as well!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1vfiu9qJj0

Air Nostrum (YW) plays piano music composed by Ludovico Einaudi. I believe this is one of the tracks they run over the PA on boarding.https://youtu.be/0Z6JN6UVa3c

I really like the GA, EK and NH boarding music.

GA use the orchestra version of Indonesian traditional song. But according to my several flights with them, they always use the song 'Tanah Airku' after landing. It's a really beautiful national song they use in their 90's commercial. Almost have the same meaning like the song 'I still call australia home'.

EK was probably the most memorable for me, the timing that they played the song was excellent. Just as we leave AMS 18C and reveales a sea of blue KL aircraft on the remote stands. It really gives me a goosebump, because it was my first time visiting Europe.

For the NH one, i've only heared it from youtube. But funny story, when i was boarding a QG flight last october, they played this song repeatedly. I spent my CGK-BPN flight trying to remember 'where the hell did I heared this song before?'. I finally realized that it was the NH song when we arrived and i used soundhound during disembarking. It was Another Sky from Taro Hakote (?).

HA (partial much?) has traditional type of Hawaiian music while boarding. A variety of instrumental kiho'alu or slack key guitar melodies along with mellow Hawaiian sung songs to set the mood of the destination. It adds to the overall travel experience with the airlineand adds just the right touch of atmosphere.

Regards
Pohakuloa

When I flew Aero Mexico last year, I noticed that during boarding and after landing they'd start playing "So Happy Together" by The Turtles.
They did it on each leg; JFK-MEX and MEX-UIO and on the return trip as well.

How random...

Continental often played Dean Martin's 'Houston' on flights going back to Houston (which is a line in the song LOL) . I would hear it often overseas from FRA and LHR for example; sometimes domestically also but quite often overseas.

Have not heard it on UA so no idea if they still do it ever.

JFK31R wrote:

When I flew Aero Mexico last year, I noticed that during boarding and after landing they'd start playing "So Happy Together" by The Turtles.
They did it on each leg; JFK-MEX and MEX-UIO and on the return trip as well.

How random...

'Happy Together' was highly used on a marketing campaign by Aeroméxico in 2014-2015, so they played it quite a bit on board.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V83VQNcJVh4

spacecadet wrote:

ANA plays this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kB4fm_kO1us

This is actually from a popular and fairly well-known musician in Japan. I was really surprised to hear my brother-in-law playing it in his car one day, as part of a "greatest hits" CD. But I cannot remember the artist's name right now.

Anyway it's not just the generic muzak that it sounds like at first.

Traveling Notes by Taro Hakase.

Flybe plays some but it is best described as lift music or a bad porno

Most airlines play traditional Hawaiian music on flights to Hawaii, and I know HA plays the same on all flights.

Delta plays this techno mix I've heard on recent 738 and 717 flights. It's the same music that is played in the background in the Delta overhead programming

On American Eagle, we play the Valet Curse. Usually accompanied by the worlds smallest violin as passengers gripe and curse about how their overstuffed bag won't fit in the teeny tiny overhead.

Sarcasm aside, a few AA aircraft recently have been playing some contemporary classical music during boarding.

alasizon wrote:

On American Eagle, we play the Valet Curse. Usually accompanied by the worlds smallest violin as passengers gripe and curse about how their overstuffed bag won't fit in the teeny tiny overhead.

Sarcasm aside, a few AA aircraft recently have been playing some contemporary classical music during boarding.

I remember back in the '90s a staple of AA boarding was playing this relaxing video on the overhead screens with classical / low energy music in the background.

It's actually similar to this current AA video in terms of visuals but the music was different: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p6mBkbzUg8

intotheair wrote:

Perhaps most famously, UA used to play Rhapsody in Blue during boarding. They play something else now, though I think it's something completely different.

They just make us listen to the same arrangement of it on infinite repeat if we call any call center (even internally).

Not sure what the boarding music is now, if any. I don't spend much time onboard the planes I'm trying to get loaded up and gone. Usually by the time I get down the jetbridge with the final paperwork there's no music playing.

I found this one from CX on Friday evening - i think its quite well done, combining east and west in a very pleasing tune

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtVOQAeQsF4

During the late 90's and through most of the 2000's, USAirways would play some type of pan flute music during boarding. The same music was also heard when calling the toll free reservations line. Anyone identify this?

I actually have a playlist on my computer called "Boarding music" and I love to use it while I am studying. The list includes:
SIngapore Airlines, China Airlines, Emirates (2 Variations), Copa, ANA, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Etihad (new version), Thai, Air New Zealand, Garuda, and now after reading this thread, Air Serbia is definitely on it too now!

My favourite has to be Emirates. It just brings back memories of my first flight with them. It has a recurring theme without being repetitive and annoying. It's actually my ringtone on my phone too (yes, I am an #AvGeek). CX is also pretty good.

Those that were on my playlist but got deleted are LAN, Turkish and the original Etihad song. LAN and Turkish (which has boarding and landing versions!) are good but it just gets repetitive and I then I get annoyed. Etihad's original constantly had to remind you you're "ON ETIHAD", despite it having some good instrumentation music, it was generally all over the place and I didn't like it. Their new version is much better!

oldannyboy wrote:

quic330 wrote:

Here a few more: OS plays waltzes, TP plays fado, IB plays only Spanish pop music (and Spanish carols during the holiday season) and FR used to play annoying (FR-style) adds over and over again.

Well, regarding FR... actually no.. I've had some really nice cabin music played during boarding sometimes... Not sure if it's up to the base or whatever though...

Back in the day Ryanair used to play some awful music on boarding, but they play some pleasant tracks now. Certainly up until last year it was Mozart or another classical composer, but I've heard new modern track(s) lately which seem to be custom actually.

Classical Ryanair - www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQDlTqh0kVw
Modern Ryanair - www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqHBM4d9f-Q and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqZdBfQyiQg (0.45 onwards).

keitherson wrote:

One thing I noticed from the better-run airlines is their music selection. It's part of an attention-to-detail mentality that many airlines overlook, and a sign of good management of the air passenger experience.

I know a.netters don't typically associate American (AA) as a "better-run airline" I, however, love their boarding/deplaning playlists. A few months ago (maybe more), American began playing some pretty good alternative/indie/indie-folk music.

Their first few playlists included tracks from; Hozier, Bon Iver, Jamie xx, The Postal Service, The Black Keys, Sylvan Esso, etc.

I can remember flying in F from JFK to SFO a few months back and boarding to Bon Iver's Hinnom, TX. It's one of my all-time favorite tracks so it made the experience that much better.

On my most recent flights a few days ago, I noticed AA has been a bit sloppy with their recent playlists--it's starting to turn into pretty crappy soft rock/pop. American even published their playlists on Spotify for awhile (they might still do so).

I will note though, American's FAs (especially the more senior FAs), would turn down the music almost until it was muted. It kinda defeats the purpose of having boarding/deplaning music if your FAs are just going to turn it down. The worst part is when the FAs turn it down, the plane is dead silence---weird.

-Max
[TravelUpdate.com]

Air France has its "France is in the air" from their advert on boarding and also the new safety video as well as their short/mini ads on you tube. It's Warm in the Winter by Glass Candy. It's cool how they got the song changed to say 'France' instead of 'Love' is in the air. I like it.

I have always thought that airlines should, as often as possible, play music that heightens the excitement of the destination you're going to. I recall VARIG playing Bossa Nova, UA playing Hawaiian music and so on. I know this was mentioned above, and that some airlines do this to some degree already, but if I was king of a global airline, that's what I'd want to do.

United was probably the first airline who understood the power of "sonic branding" when Leo Burnett sold them on the idea of buying the rights to Rhapsody in Blue (an idea first pitched to TWA by Y&R.) After the disappointment of the then the CD from Y&R not being able to sell the idea to TWA, he went to Leo Burnett and successfully sold the idea to UA.

Although, UA originally over did it. Fliers were complaining they were just sick of it after a number of years. I think that even pre-merger UA got it right, it's right place was for advertising and safety video's and phone calls.

One thing I would also do as king, I'd create a trademarked, very mild, fragrance that set my airline apart. Sort of a "new car smell" kind of fragrance. Example: Perhaps if United Polaris is a success, and is widely thought of as a great experience, then nothing sticks to the "lizard-brain" like smell!