in-flight amenities

Airline amenity of the week: free sunscreen on Hawaiian Airlines

Environment, Free Stuff, , , ,

Here’s a nomination for airline amenity of the week:

Hawaiian Airlines has partnered with reef-safe sun care company Raw Elements USA, to offer complimentary packets of sunscreen to passengers on all flights from North America to Hawaii throughout the month of April.

Discounted full-size bottles of the eco-friendly sunscreen will also be sold on flights to Hawaii through June.

Complimentary sunscreen is a nice gesture, but it’s also an educational one.

Preserving Hawaii’s natural resources is important and the ingredients in many traditional sunscreen products can harm Hawaii’s coral reefs.  To explain how, the airline has also debuted a new educational in-flight video, Reefs at Risk.

“Hawaii is a very special place, and we believe it is our kuleana, or responsibility, to care for our home,” Avi Mannis, senior vice president of marketing at Hawaiian Airlines said in a statement,

In addition to offering Hawaiian Airlines passengers complimentary sunscreen samples, Raw Elements USA is also hosting a social media sweepstakes for US residents.

The prize: two roundtrip tickets (140,000 HawaiianMiles) to Hawaii courtesy of Hawaiian Airlines, a five-night stay at The Surfjack Hotel and Swim Club (an Aqua-Aston Hospitality Hotel), the choice of three complimentary island activities, and a year’s supply of Raw Elements reef-safe sunscreen.

Entries in the Protect the Reef sweepstakes are being accepted through 4/30/18. Good luck and see you on the beach!

Alaska Airlines shakes its Beyond

Entertainment, Food, Movies, , , ,

Alaska plane at Museum of Flight_edited

To show off its new “Alaska Beyond” package of in-flight amenities and services, Alaska Airlines parked a 737 out in front of Seattle’s Museum of Flight on Thursday and welcomed aboard a planeload of frequent fliers, reporters and bloggers for a two-hour flight over Oregon and Washington.

I got to tag along.

During the flight passengers could test out the new on-board entertainment options, which include both free and for-purchase TV shows and films that can be streamed on personal devices and new inflight entertainment tablets (rented in the Main Cabin for $8-$10 and free in First Class) offering access to new movie releases, selections from the Seattle International Film Festival, TV shows, music, digital magazines and games.

ALASKA digital tablets

The Alaska Beyond program extends to the buy-on-board menu, which now includes Canoe Ridge Wines blended especially for drinking at 30,000 feet and dishes created by Seattle’s three-time James Beard award-winning chef Tom Douglas, who was on board serving his BBQ chicken sandwiches and coleslaw and, afterwards, helping to gather up the empty wrappers.

Alaska Airlines - Tom Douglas on Alaska Beyond flight

Alaska says that by mid-April, 70 percent of its planes will feature all the Alaska Beyond amenities (which also include power at each seat and leather seats by Recaro with adjustable headrests) and all the airline’s 737s will offer direct-to-your personal-device-entertainment.

Why is Alaska doing all this upgrading now? Some say it has to do with Delta Air Lines’ aggressive push into the market. No doubt. But who’s going to argue against welcome improvements in services and in-flight amenities, especially those that remind Pacific Northwest passengers of home?

Airline amenity kits – part 2

Amenity kits, , , , ,

Here’s part 2 of my round-up of cool, collectible airline amenity kits, originally produced for CNBC Road Warrior. See part 1 here.

7_JetBlue amenity kit

A complimentary amenity kit filled with deluxe-sized, beauty, grooming and lifestyle products chosen by the sample-savvy folks at Birchbox is one of the perks included with JetBlue’s upgraded, coast-to-to-coast Mint service introduced in June, 2014. The kit content will change quarterly but the mix of premium sample items started off with everything from Benefit Cosmetics mascara in the women’s kit to Ernest Supplies Cooling Shave Cream in the kit for men.

8A_Finnair_Eco-Friendly amenity kit

Finnair offers business class passengers a minimalist, eco-friendly amenity kit that includes socks, an eye-mask and earplugs packaged in a brown paper envelope. A more elaborate, but equally-eco amenities kit, with items in a green tea or birch scent, is available on request.

9_AirFrance_Business Amenity Kit

Business class customers on Air France now receive an amenity kit filled with Clarins cosmetics as well as mouthwash, slipper socks, toothbrush and eye shade. Passengers in the airline’s La Premiere cabins receive a leather cosmetics kit designed by Givenchy filled with skin care products by Biologique Recherche, including face cream, an anti-fatigue roll-on for the eyes, an eye mask, lip balm, hand cream and an oshibori hand towel.

10_Etihad_FIRST CLASS SOUGHA MALE

Etihad, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, gives passengers in economy, business and first class cabins amenity kits that feature patterns of Sadou, a colorful, intricate and centuries-old Abu Dhabi weaving craft traditionally used on blankets, cushions and Bedouin tents. In addition to the nice array of products inside the bags, “I love the fact that Etihad has invested in an authentic design for their kits, embracing their cultural roots,” said Jonny Clark, a commercial pilot who evaluates airline products and design at TheDesignAir.

Playboy: airplane reading material?

Books, ,

airberlin playboy

Magazines are one of those on-board amenities that disappeared from domestic flights in the U.S. a long time ago. But many international airlines still offer a selection of reading material that includes newspapers, business, fashion and sports magazines, especially in business class.

On a recent airberlin flight I was a bit surprised to see Playboy on the counter as one of the options and asked about that when I visited the company’s headquarters in Berlin.

My hosts were a bit surprised at my surprise but told me that the cover of the issue I saw on the plane is a special airline cover that stays the same for each issue – and that Playboy is the magazine they need to replace most often.

Sleep tight on Qantas: new amenities for business class passengers

Airlines, ,

Qantas Airways has rolled out a few enhancements to its international Business service aimed at helping customers sleep better and eat better during the flight.

In the business class cabin, mattresses will be added to the Skybeds on international flights and duvets will be handed out instead of blankets. The airline will also be handing out Kate Spade New York and Jack Spade amenity kits that include, among other items, a biodegradable toothbrush.

The airline is also offering business class passengers a meal option called Select on Q – Eat. 72 to 24 hours before they board, passengers may choose their meals and choose when they’d like to eat them. The program was tested on the airline’s Los Angeles route and seemed to be popular, so now the option is being added to other flights beginning in mid -November.

A new after-flight amenity was recently announced as well: beginning in April 2013, business and first class passengers on flights longer than 12 hours will be able to take advantage of door-to-door car service; if the proposed partnership with Emirates gets regulatory approval.

On a hosted trip to Dubai from Seattle on Emirates a while ago, I was able to use this service to get home from the airport. After a very long flight, having a car waiting to whisk me home was not only incredibly convenient, it extended that “I’m flying business-class-and-I’m-being-treated-like-a-special-person” feeling all the way to my front door. A nice perk that I think about every time I have to make my way from the plane to the train and then to the bus in order to get home after a flight.