Southwest Airlines, known for its impromptu in-flight concerts and fashion shows (and once, a wedding!) has introduced another form of programming: book readings.

According to Slate writer Jonathan L. Fischer, Southwest hopes to improve customer experience with such programming; specifically, Southwest community engagement coordinator Kim Boller says that the airline wants to offer entertainment by artists who belong to “Southwest culture,” and who are “fun-loving, carefree, have a smile on their face.”

Fischer himself, however, experienced the sudden book reading while in flight from St. Louis to Washington D.C. at 8:40 am last week, and was not pleased.

“I’m generally of the opinion that there are no good surprises on an airplane,” he wrote, referring to a hitherto unannounced reading by best-selling author Eric Greitins, who is a former NAVY SEAL, and possible Republican candidate for governor of Missouri. Greitins was reading from his latest book, Resilience: Hard-Won Wisdom for Living a Better Life (2015), a series of letters he wrote to a fellow veteran who suffered from PTSD.

Los Angeles Times writer David L. Ulin agrees. “I feel trapped enough already, hurtling through the sky in a metal tube at 600 miles per hour,” he wrote. “Add a reading to the mix, and I begin to have an existential crisis on my hands.”

“More to the point is the notion that any audience must be a captive audience, that everything now is a promotional opportunity,” Ulin added. “What happened to personal space, to minding one’s own business, to our ability—no, our right—to choose?”

Have Southwest passengers ever complained about its programming? According to Fischer, Boller says no, “There’s always the opportunity for that,” but it hasn’t happened yet.

“We’ll have to agree to disagree on how early 8:40 a.m. is,” Fischer wrote.

Are unannounced, in-flight author readings fair to passengers? Read another opinion and let us know yours in the comments!