Seat pockets on United Airlines flights may look narrower starting this fall. The airline announced Thursday that it will discontinue the print edition of its long-running in-flight magazine, Hemispheres, which the airline has published since 1992.
The September issue of Hemispheres will be the magazine’s last in print. The print edition on United flights will be replaced by a free digital edition, United said in a statement. The new format will continue to include much of the same content as the print edition, including popular features like the “Three Perfect Days” series, which offers readers sample itineraries for different cities around the world.
“The September issue of Hemispheres will be the last print edition of our in-flight magazine. A preview of our digital edition is now available at united.com/hemispheres and includes many new and fan-favorite features – including our Three Perfect Days series,” United said in a statement.
In the digital age, given the costs associated with publishing print copies and the popularity of digital editions among readers—from novels to magazines—it is not uncommon for a print magazine to cease publication.
“By offering a digital experience, we can make Hemispheres even better – reaching a wider audience, offering more personalized content and telling more engaging stories. Additionally, digital functionality includes screen readers and enlarged text, with translations in eight languages coming soon. We are excited about the future possibilities and look forward to sharing more details as we get closer to launch,” United added.
Hemispheres publisher Ink had to consider something many don’t: how the magazine’s weight affects fuel costs. In 2018 United changed the paper stock of the in-flight magazine to make each one an ounce lighter, saving the airline $300,000 a year.
“Any time we can save even one ounce of weight, that means we’re using less fuel to fly to that destination,” Aaron Stash, United’s head of environmental strategy and sustainability, told CBS News at the time. “Even one ounce — because when you extrapolate that across the thousands of seats and the thousands of flights that we have, that ounce adds up and multiplies very quickly.”
Ink also publishes other in-flight magazines, such as Malaysia Airlines’ monthly magazine GoingPlaces, whose print editions continue to fill passengers’ pockets.
Hemispheres also distinguished United from airlines such as Delta, which discontinued its Sky magazine in 2020, and Southwest Airlines, which stopped publishing its magazine the same year at the start of the pandemic. American Airlines discontinued American Way, first introduced in 1966, in 2021. The airline said at the time that “complimentary in-flight entertainment will give customers numerous entertainment options during their travels.”
— With reporting by Kris Van Cleave, CBS News senior transportation correspondent
