One of the things that I will do to pass the time on some airplane flights is to do the games that are sometimes found in some inflight magazines. Especially on shorter domestic flights, which, recent flights notwithstanding are a majority of the flights I fly, there is usually both a Sudoku and a crossword puzzle in there.
On my last flight (a tiny regional jet from Cincinnati to Chicago)
I was wondering about the etiquette of what you do when you’ve completed some or all of the crossword or Sudoku puzzles in the inflight magazine?
Magazine crossword / Sudoku etiquette
On one short flight on Southwest a few months ago, I sat down at my seat and as we started taking off, reached for my inflight magazine, only to find that the puzzles were already completed
Tragically, the puzzles in the other magazines in my row were ALSO completed. When I was able to get a hold of a flight attendant, she somewhat scoffed at me and said she’d get me one if she had time (she never did). I think because it was a short flight (Washington DC to Columbus if I am remembering correctly), by the time beverage service was completed it was pretty much time to land.
So all this puzzling had me … well… puzzled. What is the proper etiquette if you complete some or all of the puzzles in an inflight magazine? Should you leave it on the seat when you leave, in the hopes that the flight attendant will replace it with a “fresh” one? Maybe open it to the completed puzzle pages? Is this worth a mention to a flight attendant? Or are they so busy turning around that nobody is going to bother with that?
So what are you supposed to do?
I’d really love to hear from other frequent travelers and/or current or former flight attendants. What is the “proper” procedure here?
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Take the magazine with you. The cleaning crew is supposed to replace them where they’re missing from the seat pocket. Not sure that happens after every flight, but eventually. They’re considered a marketing tool so there’s a business incentive to keep them stocked.
Thanks for the tip!
I agree, take it with you. They want you to have it. It’s the only real way to encourage the airline to replace the magazine. They don’t care about the puzzle, they’d prefer you read the article about what their amazing CEO is up to anyway.
FWIW, I have an iPad app (“Enjoy Sudoku” or “:) Sudoku”) ( which is superb, incidentally!) with which I can input a Sudoku from a photo or enter the numbers directly. I can do the puzzles I wish to do (even the ones someone else has already done) and leave the magazine as I found it, hopefully pristine.
FWIW, the second “WarmUp” Sudoku in the October, 2017 issue has no solution. I think the “1” in R7C6 should be in R8C6 instead.