Timeline for Why is onboard/inflight shopping still a thing?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
43 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S Dec 31, 2017 at 10:03 | history | bounty ended | CommunityBot | ||
| S Dec 31, 2017 at 10:03 | history | notice removed | CommunityBot | ||
| Dec 26, 2017 at 5:32 | answer | added | Burhan Khalid | timeline score: 3 | |
| Dec 24, 2017 at 19:14 | answer | added | Crazydre | timeline score: 2 | |
| S Dec 23, 2017 at 8:34 | history | bounty started | Mark Mayo | ||
| S Dec 23, 2017 at 8:34 | history | notice added | Mark Mayo | Draw attention | |
| Dec 23, 2017 at 4:45 | answer | added | lambshaanxy | timeline score: 4 | |
| Nov 28, 2016 at 13:38 | comment | added | Jamie Hanrahan | Not only has Skymall gone away, but AA has also eliminated the in-flight "duty free" catalogs on their international flights. | |
| Nov 28, 2016 at 10:23 | comment | added | JonathanReez♦ | @flith I'm pretty sure that 5 pound sandwich from Ryanair doesn't taste "exquisite", no matter the altitude... | |
| Nov 28, 2016 at 8:20 | vote | accept | Mou某 | ||
| Nov 28, 2016 at 8:02 | comment | added | flith | @JonathanReez: apparently airline food tastes so bland because your tastebuds and sense of smell decrease by ~30% on an aeroplane, due to the pressurised environment. See: bbc.com/future/story/20150112-why-in-flight-food-tastes-weird (and many similar articles). | |
| Nov 27, 2016 at 3:32 | comment | added | bwDraco | You realize the cost pressures in the airline industry have never been greater? The economy has not gotten much better over the last decade, and airline companies are being forced to shave every dollar they can off of airfares. So how do they stay in business? By exploiting the fact that a relatively large number of people onboard a plane (compared to the general population) have high income and selling extras to them. | |
| Nov 26, 2016 at 11:51 | history | protected | Mark Mayo | ||
| Nov 26, 2016 at 10:58 | answer | added | user54136 | timeline score: 1 | |
| Nov 25, 2016 at 10:07 | answer | added | Relaxed | timeline score: 6 | |
| Nov 25, 2016 at 9:25 | history | edited | Mark Mayo | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
deleted 2 characters in body; edited tags
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| Nov 24, 2016 at 18:44 | comment | added | Spehro 'speff' Pefhany | @Strawberry Well, unless you have wifi, which is becoming more and more common. Boredom is probably the main reason people look and sometimes buy. You're so bored by the time you get through security and other formalities and hang around the gate for ages the actual flight is like being imprisoned. | |
| Nov 24, 2016 at 8:47 | comment | added | ʰᵈˑ | I buy on the plane. I browse the magazines because it distracts me from flying. I also buy alcohol because I really don't like flying and it calms my nerves. | |
| Nov 24, 2016 at 2:31 | review | Close votes | |||
| Nov 24, 2016 at 4:00 | |||||
| Nov 24, 2016 at 0:25 | comment | added | user42547 | I didn't know this was even a thing. | |
| Nov 23, 2016 at 16:56 | answer | added | Tero Lahtinen | timeline score: 7 | |
| Nov 23, 2016 at 13:23 | comment | added | Strawberry | You can't do price compare at 30000 feet, so I'm guessing that's one reason. | |
| Nov 23, 2016 at 12:37 | comment | added | SJuan76 | The one reason I have had for buying on flight is disposing of leftover money (specially coins) when travelling between countries with different currencies. I like to keep always some local money on me until I get to the plane, and if it is too little to change it back at home I can use it in the plane. YMMV. | |
| Nov 23, 2016 at 10:59 | answer | added | DevBob | timeline score: 8 | |
| Nov 23, 2016 at 9:33 | comment | added | phuclv | I don't know about LCC in Europe but I've seen a lot of people buying things on flights in Asia. The best selling flight was some in India and Thailand IIRC. However as I can see, food and beverages are the best selling things on LCC flights. | |
| Nov 23, 2016 at 6:17 | answer | added | congusbongus | timeline score: 20 | |
| Nov 23, 2016 at 5:33 | comment | added | BruceWayne | Some airlines are getting rid of it. For example, Skymall's demise could save American Airlines $350K a year on fuel | |
| Nov 23, 2016 at 3:05 | answer | added | Count Iblis | timeline score: 4 | |
| Nov 23, 2016 at 2:28 | comment | added | user2338816 |
Since all of the nobody buys clauses are apparently false, it's not clear what you actually want to ask. Confirmation that sales happen?
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| Nov 23, 2016 at 0:38 | answer | added | Jan | timeline score: 29 | |
| Nov 22, 2016 at 20:57 | answer | added | DukeW | timeline score: 48 | |
| Nov 22, 2016 at 19:45 | comment | added | DTRT | People read the magazine, people buy the merch, people hear the announcement. If it was so ineffective, they would not continue it. Be aware, they have to sell surprisingly little for it to be revenue positive. | |
| Nov 22, 2016 at 19:08 | answer | added | Pete B. | timeline score: 14 | |
| Nov 22, 2016 at 19:03 | comment | added | smci | @motoDrizzt: Don't say that or Michael O'Leary will implement it too... | |
| Nov 22, 2016 at 18:59 | comment | added | Criggie | I have a recollection that lower air pressure and increased oxygen percentage was responsible for some poor impulse buying. Can't find the link though. Separately, opinion story latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/… | |
| Nov 22, 2016 at 17:00 | comment | added | Lyall | I always read the inflight brochure/catalogue when I fly (usually out of boredom) and I dare say if I had more disposable income I probably would buy a fancy watch or a branded teddy bear as a souvenir for myself or someone else :) Something to do... and for me the novelty of being able to buy something like that at 35,000 feet won't wear off anytime soon | |
| Nov 22, 2016 at 14:03 | comment | added | motoDrizzt | @pnuts the cart takes up more than the space of a passenger, at least two, but unless you find a way to cut people in pieces and later glue them back, I seriously doubt you'll be able to fit two additional passengers in the storage's cubic compartments | |
| Nov 22, 2016 at 13:47 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/StackTravel/status/801059406985265152 | ||
| Nov 22, 2016 at 13:30 | comment | added | Federico Poloni | You speak about cost effectiveness, but it's quite cheap to do it. The stewards are already there, and have free time to do it during of the flight. There aren't many expenses; the only one is the fuel cost of flying around a cartful of merchandise. | |
| Nov 22, 2016 at 13:27 | answer | added | Mark Mayo | timeline score: 105 | |
| Nov 22, 2016 at 13:26 | comment | added | phoog | I regularly see people buying. The volume typically seems so low that I can't imagine it to be cost effective, but I'm just guessing: I don't know how much it costs them to keep the inventory on the plane; I don't know what the actual volume is; etc., etc. | |
| Nov 22, 2016 at 13:11 | comment | added | JonathanReez♦ | Since even Ryanair keeps doing it and they're known for saving every penny, I'd guess that people still do buy stuff from the shopping magazine. On a personal note, I'm much more annoyed by all the "exquisite cuisine" ads when it comes to airline food. | |
| Nov 22, 2016 at 13:08 | history | asked | Mou某 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |