SkyMall had a pretty good run I’d say. For years, they had the nearly undivided attention of air travelers as they sought to entertain themselves, or simply find the best selection of Bigfoot-inspired lawn decorations anywhere. A staple in the seatback pocket on many major airlines, SkyMall provided an outlet for people to order any number of unusual things that they probably didn’t need. But really, what doesn’t look more interesting as you’re hurtling through the air at 30,000 feet?
Citing a “crowded, rapidly evolving and intensely competitive” airline retail environment (i.e. in-flight Wifi), SkyMall and its parent company have filed for Bankruptcy protection and a court supervised sale of their assets. The Wall Street Journal provided several additional quotes from SkyMall’s Chief Executive Scott Wiley on the downfall of the airline seat pocket empire.
On in-flight Wifi:
Increasing numbers of airlines providing internet access “resulted in additional competition from e-commerce retailers and additional competition for the attention of passengers, all of which further negatively impacted SkyMall’s catalog sales,”
It makes sense though, when you can look at nearly anything in the world on your phone/tablet/laptop while flying, the oddities and curiosities presented in SkyMall aren’t quite so odd or curious. I mean, why would you need an NFL Wine Shoe holder (pictured below) when you could be reading all about the latest tech news on Techaeris?
Who cares about a Cuddling Cat Rug when you’ve got geeky news over at MOARGeek?
Who needs a Brass Knuckle Meat Tenderizer to beat their… I think you can see where I’m going with this…
In truth, it’s sad to see SkyMall closing that seat-back pocket for good. I’m not a frequent flyer, but I’d almost always flip through the SkyMall catalog on flights just to see what wacky stuff they were promoting. If you want to do the same, you’d better get flying soon – an auction for SkyMall’s assets will be held in late March.
What’s the craziest SkyMall swag you’ve seen? Let us know in the comments or on Google+, Facebook, or Twitter.
[button link=”http://www.wsj.com/articles/in-flight-catalog-skymall-files-for-bankruptcy-1422025308″ icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: The Wall Street Journal[/button]Last Updated on November 27, 2018.
