SkyMall is dead, and that’s a bummer, at least for those prone to nostalgia, enamored of garden gnomes, or inept at charging devices before boarding a flight. But the company’s bankruptcy could improve airlines’ bottom lines, because they’ll no longer carry the catalog in every seat-back pocket.
That may not make any sense until you understand that airlines are obsessed with cutting weight, because lighter planes need less fuel, and jet fuel is, depending upon who you ask, an airline’s no. 1 or no. 2 expense. That’s why airlines are investing in thinner seats, lighter trash compactors, and entertainment systems that use sleeker electronics.
So tossing those quirky catalogs into the recycling bin will save airlines like Southwest (which already planned to ditch them), United, and American hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
via Wired
Image: Tony Gutierrez/AP
