United Discontinuing Hemispheres Magazine: End Of An Era

Terrible. One of the distractions on board that distinguished United. I have no interest in seeing digital content, and this Kinective Media thing is a joke- I dont want enhanced advertisements.

My favorite parts of an airline magazine in general is the route map and types of aircraft they operate. And United does have an extensive route network. (I'm particularly interested in their Island Hopper). I also enjoy browsing the duty free catalogue for the model aircraft.

Speaking of the Island Hopper, can we see a review in the future?! 😀 I don't think you've done an Island Hopper before IIRC.

Very sad indeed. I was really pleased when United brought the magazine back in print after the (understandable) pandemic era "reducing touchpoints." I totally get the lack of the business case in this day and age but still a qualitative loss.

Hemispheres certainly beat Vis-à-Vis (anyone else remember that?) from when they attempted to integrate with Hertz and Westin under the Allegis banner in the 80s.

I'm old.

For someone like me who doesn’t watch a lot of TV or have the time to read reviews beforehand the most useful read in the seat back magazine was the film & TV recommendations. Oh well more magazines will go missing from the lounges.

The Michael Scott line where he asks Pam if she had changed the address for his 'American Way' subscription still cracks me up.

As others posted previously, the fun of reading an inflight magazine was checking the route map, airplane types etc. I am not interested in digital content, inflight magazine was an opportunity to rest the eyes on a paper print.
In January ANA still had their Tsubasa in printed version, hopefully they will keep it for some more months, when I fly with them again. In Europe those are long gone.
I guess I am old as well 🙂

I can't tell you how many times I'd grab Hemispheres just to scan the fold out route maps and figure out what food/beverage choices I should have. With spotty or non-existent internet at times (especially on RJ's) I'll miss this thing. But yea, it was just a matter of time.

Sad to see it end. My memory of it will be during COVID actually, when United mailed copies of it. Seeing it in my mailbox, it was a sad yet hopeful reminder to look forward to when travel resumes again.

I also thought it was a nice brag about United's global network the last few years. While AA could do 3 days in El Paso or Cancun, UA could do the world.

“SkyMall was a thing for so long because people literally had nothing to do on planes.”

Not a fan of reading, eh?

covid killed seatback literature as airlines had no choice but to remove or frequently replace anything that passengers could touch.

Add in that seatback AVOD provides the entertainment that inflight seatback literature was supposed to provide and there is no market for seatback literature. While United is well behind Delta in getting seatback AVOD installed across its fleet, they recognize that people don't look at seatback literature when there are electronic alternatives.

Removing several hundred pounds of weight that no one uses any more has a significant impact on operational performance

Where is P Buttigieg? He should shut down United unless they continue the magazine. I like the route maps. Those can occupy me for an hour or two.

This is awful. Where am I going to wipe my sky boogers now?

Maybe UA can take the money they saved from this move and put it into their catering budget? Just a thought…

In your mouth, like you always do.

Happy contrails Hemispheres! You saved me from boredom many times on United. I will miss studying the route map and dreaming of future travels, as well as the 3 perfect days articles. Less so the plastic surgery and matchmaker ads LOL

It's a tragedy how much we have become dependent on digitalization. It bodes poorly for the future not just in aviation, but in the society generally. I fear for the days when the next generation will never know a life beyond the screen. Will miss this magazine, indeed, along with the glory days of United that are becoming further and further away with time.

"3 Perfect Days" was mostly about food, drink, and upscale hotels. Other [more] interesting things that a location offered were mostly mentioned in passing.

Note that Hemispheres was a re-brand of United Magazine, which was called Mainliner until 1982. So Hemispheres has a much longer legacy.

The archive is still online, just like the August issue is: https://www.hemispheresmag.com/the-magazine/

I always took home, as souvenirs, the magazines from the more remote and exotic airlines.

As mentioned by others, I will really miss the route maps in the back of the magazines. The airport maps were very useful too. This information is not always readily available online; at least not in such an easy to read format. And yes, you guessed it, I'm an old guy.

I believe klm still publishes the Holland Herald after 58 years.

What about Leaders Magazine on the Japan and Guam routes. Are they keeping that around?

You really can't help yourself, can you?

Sad to see it go. I think United also used to have a separate magazine, Rhapsody, specifically for long haul first and business class. I remember reading somewhere that Rhapsody quietly developed a strong reputation for surprisingly good content from prominent writers, too.

I don't run from the facts.
United returned to restocking its inflight magazine after many other airlines realized they were dead during covid.

UA has failed to configure anywhere near the number of aircraft with seatback AVOD as they promised - and not just because of Boeing's delivery delays but because the supply chain was never capable of supplying as many AVOD systems for aircraft retrofits as UA said they would reconfigure.

No one reads in-flight magazines when there is AVOD on the aircraft.

I, like the rest of the old guys on here, liked to look at the map and the fleet types. The beverage selection was nice also. Not being a movie fan I put the flight map on the screen and leave it on during the entire flight (I am looking at you AA) Does anyone remember when the FA's would walk down the isle with a handful of news papers and magazines you could borrow for the flight? Fortunately I live somewhere that has a minimal DL presence and don't have to endure old planes and glitzy Hollywood noise. Go for it TD

"You don't get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate."

Tim, you contradict yourself again. Too high on cookie dough?

"covid killed seatback literature as airlines had no choice but to remove or frequently replace anything that passengers could touch."
"people don't look at seatback literature when there are electronic alternatives."

So if COVID forced airline to remove high touch item.
They should remove AVOD which everyone touches, and leave the magazine, which no one touches, according to you.

OUCH!

I’m glad my father was cremated, otherwise he’d be rolling in his grave. He was the editor of Mainliner magazine back in United go-go years in the 1960s.

I see that I was correct in my assessment.

When I fly Hawaiian, I actually enjoy reading their inflight magazine as it provides articles and tidbits about restaurants and activities I may actually enjoy. My favorite poke place on Oahu was found via their magazine (Kahuku Superette on the North Shore). But, I think what's different is the magazine focues on a smaller geographic scale: I can consider activities and restaurants that aren't far from my destination. Whereas the articles written in magazines like Hemispheres are more global in scale.

I've always enjoyed reading the in-flight magazines from various carriers back in the day (the Alaska magazine was my favourite), and am going to pour one of for the Hemispheres. Times have changed for sure and it's time to start loading up on reading materials on the tablet before traveling. Thank goodness there are various options for e-readers.

Unfortunately, they don't care what you want.

This is probably one of the very few United airline’s good things, but now they are taking it away.

Skymall is back online

I enjoyed the Three Days In and the interviews.

Failed? They’re actively doing that. For someone who actively touts “i know the facts”, you really don’t know shit. Go back to OMAAT.

Interestingly, Allegiant maintains a magazine... Allways

I wish the three perfect days for all cities are stored somewhere in digital format

Thanks!

It looks like the archive of the complete magazine goes back only to September 2020, but the archive of Three Perfect Days goes back farther:

https://www.hemispheresmag.com/three-perfect-days/

I know of another magazine for the modern, forward thinking gentleman that developed a strong reputation for surprisingly good content from prominent writers. Its pictures were better than Rhapsody's.

It's all Biden's fault....

as usual, your incessant need to try to argue and belittle only results in you proving you have no common sense.

It is impossible to efficiently sanitize paper esp. in a bound format and return it to service which is why airlines removed all printed material except for the required emergency card during covid.

In contrast, the AVOD screen just like every other customer contact surface was disinfected including w/ mists. Many airlines handed out wipes which customers could disinfect the surfaces around them and many did wipe down the AVOD system

Walk away and quit arguing until you think before you type.

Sad but like the Walkman, floppy disc and disco ball - its time had come. I really enjoyed the magazine because it inspired me to take more flights! I would often cut out the articles and scan them so that i had some ideas of where to go next and what to do. I would also always look at the flight route maps - mostly international - and imagine where I would take a trip to next. Wow, new route here?! Need to investigate that as a possible trip and score my 100k miles and 1k status for next year....I guess that era ended too!

I'm very curious the profitability (or not) of Hemispheres.
United thought enough of it as part of the brand that during peak Covid they were mailing them to elites (at least as a 1K at the time I would get one mailed monthly by United for free).

Really sad for it to go - mostly because I would of course steal one a month and collect them to feed my nascent kleptomania.

https://www.theonion.com/struggling-american-airlines-to-shutter-air-passenger-s-1819574223

Still better than some inane celebrity's take on what to do in St. Louis over the weekend (looking at you, American).

Hana Hou has always been a good in-flight magazine.

I used to work in sales for a very large printer. We had the Delta monthly magazine as well as Skymall catalog. Both were print runs of hundreds of thousands each month.

On a separate note American Way came out twice a month. The other airlines were monthly.

That’s horrible. I loved United Hemispheres as it was my favorite airline magazine. I have lots of old issues, I guess I’ll keep reading “3 Days” with those issues. Shame on United, you should keep Hemispheres going as I’m a loyal United MP

I’m happy I was able to take a few home on my last couple of United flights. I always loved looking at the fleet page and seeing the additions of new aircraft but also sad to see some go.

Most airlines explicitly allow you to take the on board magazine with you. Was UA different?

You really are oblivious as to why you are the laughing stock of this and other websites.

It was called Vis-a-Vis for a little while in the late 1980s and early 1990s too, before they settled on Hemispheres.

It seems many will miss the route maps. Flightconnections . com has it all. Happy browsing. For those who will miss the “three days in” article I’d suggest chatting with chatgpt for personalized itineraries. The world changes, people!

I stopped reading it when they retired the "Ask the Captain" column. Then again, I still miss Channel 9, that's probably never coming back...

Where oh where will "It's Just Lunch!" advertise now? In all seriousness, there is a utility to the magazine (route maps, food/bev options, airport maps, etc) that feel necessary, especially for Boomer passengers. I assume they'll need to go back to printing food/bev menus (I can't see them not having an explicit explanation of what's available, primarily b/c it's a revenue center for United), so the actual cost reduction isn't as large as one would think.

No, not at all. Was more joking

The fact that people actually waste time on that site is a testament of how messed up the world is right now. But Tim Dunn would make a great editor there.

Tim.

You are really a laughing stock.
You are the one with no common sense.

"It is impossible to efficiently sanitize paper"
"Many airlines handed out wipes which customers could disinfect the surfaces around them and many did wipe down the AVOD system"

ROFL, Tim. How about using the wipes to WIPE YOUR HANDS after reading not wipe the magazine itself.

"Walk away and quit arguing until you think before you type."
Keep saying that in the mirror.

I never miss badly produced inflight magazines, but I sure do miss well-produced ones. I don't like being forced into digital, especially since the personalisation of the ads that digital entertainment network will serve are almost always from information I'd rather them not harvest from my online activity. I also miss print magazines in general... Digital can reproduce the information, but it can never replicate the tactile experience of touching and seeing things in that kind of way. Same with books. They're *real* and immediate and 3-dimensional in ways that digital screens and AI-generated crap will never be. But here we are.

Sad day. Bad decision by United to discontinue Hemispheres

Back when United was literally on the ropes and close to closing its doors, Hemispheres stood by them and continued to provide their magazine for free. So much for loyalty, right, United?