SkyMall Flies Again: Returns to United’s Seatback for Holiday Season
Joe Cortez December 08, 2015
In time for the holiday season, SkyMall will fly again on United Airlines flights.
For the flyer who is at a loss to get the person in their life who seems to have everything, United Airlines wants to help. After disappearing from seatback pockets in 2015, SkyMall will fly once again as a special insert in United’s Hemispheres magazine.
The Los Angeles Times reports the new venture is backed by New Jersey-based C&A Marketing, which will produce the insert for United flights. In addition, the special edition has also been directly sent to the catalog’s “best customers,” allowing people to purchase items direct from their homes.
The revamped catalog showcases a number of new features that fit the traditional SkyMall shopping experience. Items available direct from their website include a “smart ring” to control mobile devices, an inflatable holiday Darth Vader and a unicycle-hoverboard hybrid dubbed the “Solowheel Extreme.” Executives for the company say the new edition marks a new chapter for the once-bankrupt business, claiming the future of SkyMall may not have to do with commercial aircraft.
“The way you run a catalog business is by mailing them to people or by engaging them in e-commerce,” Chaim Pikarski, executive vice president of C&A Marketing, told CNN Money.
The edition comes nearly one year after the original parent company filed for bankruptcy, citing a severe drop in sales. Entreprenuer Scott Jordan announced a bid for the assets, but later opted to create his own venture for in-flight shopping titled SKY2BUY.
Although SkyMall intends to diversify their customer base in 2016, the company announced they will be featured on at least one domestic carrier in the coming year. In addition, the once-home to the famous Bigfoot Yeti statue will also be available on Amtrak trains.
[Photo: SkyMall]
