"Window or Aisle?: Beth Deloria"; U.S. Airways Magazine

Unique from the magazines I previously analyzed, U.S. Airways Magazine is clearly a publicity tactic the company uses to promote their primary business entity: U.S. Airways. The January 2013 edition’s column “Window or Aisle?” featured Beth Deloria, an avid runner, a philanthropic-focused professional and a frequent U.S. Airways flier.

With the exception of the deck and the questions, the entire article is Deloria’s words. There is no paraphrasing; it is strictly a word-for-word transcription of her interview. She provides eloquent, thoughtful responses to terse, under-developed questions.

Two questions are closed questions. Potentially Deloria could have provided one-word answers to two other questions. Out of the six questions, these are not good odds. Phrased differently, the article could have been insightful; however, that is not U.S. Airways goal. Their goal is to promote their airline. The closing questions (“Why U.S. Airways?”) successfully did just that and resulted in an unmemorable article.