The only live music that ought to be permissible on airplanes are grand romantic gestures of love à la The Wedding Singer and the musical stylings of Beyoncé, if she happens to be slumming it in commercial and needs to do her vocal warm-ups for a concert later that night.
Southwest Airlines is breaking these unspoken rules of travel by initiating its passengers into a new partnership with Warner Music Nashville to make their flights a little more musical. Billboard broke the news of the partnership to the world on Thursday (October 26), which continues and expands upon the airline’s recent history of organizing surprise concerts in-air for unsuspecting passengers.
While well-intentioned, asking musicians to croon country music at airline passengers who quite literally did not ask for this, forcing them to take out their headphones and nod along respectfully (regardless of their personal taste in music) seems like a risky marketing move. There are many travelers who would probably rather gnaw at their free cookie and read an overpriced book sold at the previous airport than sway along to a twangy country song despite a throbbing headache.
Twitter, for one, is not here for the forced-listening experience.
Customers: You know, free WiFi would be nice
Southwest: Here's Creed https://t.co/iC4jqKCpaV
— adam harris (@AdamHSays) October 27, 2017
https://twitter.com/AndyLeeDMA/status/924046170497753088
https://twitter.com/mollypriddy/status/923957854767214593?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bustle.com%2F
finally, what I've always wanted from people playing music near me: no physical way to escape https://t.co/UtGumXD7CI
— Dana Schwartz (@DanaSchwartzzz) October 27, 2017
what fresh Hell is this? https://t.co/EIxOYAkRmU
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) October 27, 2017
It’s possible that with the right musician and in-flight atmosphere that a surprise concert could be nothing short of magical. Then again, air travel can be an uncomfortable experience for many passengers; perhaps giving them the simple tranquilities of routine — be that listening to their headphones uninterrupted, watching an in-flight movie, or having the opportunity to get work done without distraction — is the best customer service possible.
