British traveler Jim Cook, who insists on being referred to as a "traveller," told the True Dork Times, "Honestly, I didn't really need a holiday to New York, but where else can I find a Popcorn machine on a replica antique cart for only US$700 plus shipping and handling?  I'd gladly pay double the ticket fare for this opportunity."

Homemaker Madge Allen, from Dubuque, Iowa confesses "Some weekends I take the roundtrip to Omaha two or three times!  There's just so many pages, it's hard to find the time to read them all."

Still another ringing endorsement was heard from Cristobal Colon, a Genoese exchange student.  "What I like the most is that I get to use the phone in the seat back for free.  Sure, most of this stuff is also in the catalogs that pile up on my counter at home, but there's just an extra thrill in ordering the $115 resin "Girl on Bench" from Lillian Vernon, when you do it on a plane.  Besides you can never have too many plastic sculptures that look like stone."

While the airlines enjoy the increased business, some workers are complaining that the catalog may be becoming too much of a distraction.  "Sometimes I have to yell at customers to get their drink orders," flight attendant Fu Descartes admitted.  "They don't want to put it down, they're just totally engrossed.  On a flight to Houston last week, I just had to shove the rock-hard cube of reheated beef smothered in margarine-laden soggy vegetables in the passenger's faces, just to get their attention.  It was like I didn't exist."

Still, not all employees see this as a drawback.  Pilots have noted a significant decrease in customer complaints about sitting on the tarmac for hours on end waiting for clearance to take off, or while taxiing to the gate on arrival.  "This gives us a lot more freedom to waste time checking our fantasy sports teams' scores," grateful pilot Ted Striker acknowledged.

For now, the publishers of Skymall are resisting frequent traveler calls to expand their circulation beyond airline seat backs.  "Several people have offered to pay for subscriptions, but we're pretty comfortable in the niche we have," a company spokesman said.  "Even if that niche is in between the flotation device guide and the barf bag."