airline amenity kits

Airplane swag

[This is a slightly different version of a story we first prepared for The Points Guy site.]

Airplane etiquette frowns on passengers taking home the blankets, the pillows, or the plates meals are served on. But some items are perfectly OK to swipe from your next flight.

Delta Air Lines’ ‘secret’ airplane trading cards

Delta Air Lines says that when they’re not busy preparing for a flight or flying the plane, their pilots are happy to pass out a collectible trading card featuring one of the airplanes in their fleet to “any customer that asks nicely.”

The carrier says there are 11 card types in the current collection and six total Delta collections since the beginning of the program, which has been active for more than 20 years.

Airplane Wings

If you are a kid – or an adult – stepping on a plane for the first time and a pilot or flight attendant hands you a small wing pin with the airline’s insignia on it, that’s going to make an impression.

Delta, Alaska, and Southwest Airlines still have airplane wings for kids and first-time flyers. Most are plastic, but the wings Alaska Airlines hands out are metal.

KLM’s little Delft houses

Long-haul business class passengers on KLM get to take home one of the more unusual and collectible items: a miniature Delft house.

The little blue-and-white houses are in the shape of historic and notable buildings in the Netherlands or abroad and are filled with Bols Genever, a liquor made with corn, rye, and wheat.

KLM commissions a new little house each year and releases it in October to coincide with the anniversary of KLM’s founding in 1919. This year’s house – the 104th in the series – portrays Valkenburg Station, the oldest existing railway station in the Netherlands.

Salt and pepper shakers

Airlines know that many passengers pocket salt and pepper shakers. And some carriers have fun with that.

Virgin Atlantic’s salt and pepper shakers say “pinched from Virgin Atlantic” on their feet.

And the little see-through airplane (above) filled with salt and pepper on Condor Airlines (remove the propeller for pepper) says “aeroplane souvenir” on the underside.

Amenity kits

Premium passengers on international flights are issued some swanky amenity kits.

United’s new Polaris amenity kits are filled with products from the Therabody wellness brand. And Emirates has a collection of Bulgari amenity kits for First and business-class passengers with a wide variety of upscale products, including an engraved Bulgari mirror.

Fresh amenity kits on United & Delta

United-CowshedKits

 

 

While not the reason to purchase a pricey premium cabin ticket, these new amenity kits from United and Delta help make front-of-the-plane rides that much more special.

Once United resolves and recovers from its system-wide computer glitch on July 8, premium passengers will be able to enjoy the carrier’s new partnership with Cowshed Spa, a premium spa and lifestyle brand from London, which is providing the personal care items in new amenity kits, in premium cabin lavatories and in about a dozen United airport lounges worldwide.

The kits roll out Aug. 1, 2015, and will be distributed to premium-cabin customers (Global First and BusinessFirst) on long-haul intercontinental flights to and from the United States and will contain Cowshed’s moisturizing hand cream, Lippy Cow Natural Lip Balm and a Chamomile Refreshing Towelette. Striped socks, an eye mask, tissues, ear plugs, a toothbrush, toothpaste, dental floss and a pen will also be in both kits.

The United Global First kits are a bit larger and also contain Cowshed’s Quinoa Hydrating Daily Moisturiser, Jasmine Toning Eye Balm and an eyeglass cleaning cloth.

Look for Cowshed products in the shower facilities at United Clubs at ORD, EWR, Hong Kong, London and Tokyo and in United Global First lounges in ORD, SFO, DCA, London, Hong Kong and Tokyo as well.

Delta One passengers will also be getting a refreshed amenity kit – and snazzy striped socks.

Delta Amenity Kit

 

Delta has begun handing out hard and soft-sided TUMI amenity kits containing a TUMI soft-touch pen and eyeshades, MALIN+GOETZ lip moisturizer, body lotion and new mouthwash; striped socks, facial tissues, earplugs and a dental kit with Crest toothpaste.

Delta Socks

 

 

 

 

 

 

Airline amenity kits – part 2

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.

Airline amenity kits -Part 1

Airline amenity kits filled with personal care items have been handed out to business and/or first-class passengers on long commercial flights since at least the 1950s. Utilitarian at first, today these chic containers and their posh contents have become coveted and collectible and are often designed by top designers and filled with luxury products.

Here’s a look at some travelers’ favorite kits, past and present from the slide show I originally put together for CNBC Road Warrior.

1_PANAMKIT_SFOMUSEUM

A Pan Am World Airways amenity kit from the 1960s. “The President Special” was the name given to the airline’s first class service on several high-profile international routes. Courtesy SFO Museum

2_RemainOverNightkit_courtesySFOMuseum

Courtesy SFO Museum

The SFO Museum has 355 airline kits representing 57 airlines in its collection. The earliest were called “Remain Over Night” kits and produced in “his” and “hers” versions by the Airline Textile Manufacturing Company (AirTex) based in Des Moines, Iowa.

The men’s kit included deodorant, aftershave, hair cream, a razor, shoe polish and a comb. The women’s kit had hair spray, cleansing cream, hand cream and nail polish remover, according to the SFO Museum.

11_Qantas_Kate Spade and Jack Spade

Qantas, the flag carrier of Australia, partnered with Kate Spade New York and Jack Spade a couple of years ago to design exclusive amenity kits for customers traveling in the business class cabin. Each kit includes a selection of luxury Malin+Goetz skin care products as well as an eye mask, ear plugs, socks and other comfort essentials.

3A_DELTA Air Lines - new kit with lens cleaner

Delta’s Tumi amenity kit gets high marks from frequent travelers for both its contents and its re-usability. “It stands head and shoulders above the competition, with a good range of products, including lip balm, which is always something I forget,” said John Walton at Routehappy. It can also “easily be reused to pack thing likes extra batteries or headphone cords,” said Chris McGinnis, of Travelskills.com.

4A_SingaporeFerragamo Amenity Kit_Male and Female Products

Singapore Airline’s Salvatore Ferragamo-branded amenity kits stand out to Paul Shrater, co-founder of the online travel-size site Minimus.biz because “not only is Ferragamo a well-known luxury brand, but the kits include travel-sized perfume and cologne, a rarity in amenity kits and a product we recently launched due to customer demand.”

5A_EVA Rimowa Amenity Kits - contents

Sadly EVA Air has not created Hello Kitty-themed amenity kits to go with its fleet of Hello Kitty-themed aircraft, but when the airline introduced three brand-new Boeing 777-300ERs on its North America routes in the summer of 2014, it also introduced two new colors for its sought-after Rimowa amenity kits. Royal Laurel business class passengers receive one color on inbound flights and the other outbound. Contents complement the shells’ colors and include natural lip balm and moisturizing products by HARNN, lens-cleaning cloths and adjustable silk eye masks.

6_Japan airlines contents of amenity kit

All the items in Japan Airlines’ kit for First Class passengers “were perfectly color-coordinated,” said Oonagh Shiel, the editor who recently led a review of almost thirty airline amenity kits for Cheapflights.com. “The toothbrush matched the hair brush and the eye mask and we didn’t see another kit with a built-in hanger,” which open up possibilities for after-flight use in a hotel or at home, said Shiel. The airline distributes a beige canvas kits on flights departing Japan and a camel corduroy version on flights headed there.

More airline kits tomorrow.

$4,000 crystal-encrusted eye-masks for 5 lucky Virgin Atlantic passengers

You may sleep, but your neighbor may be kept awake by the sparkle.

Travelers hoping to avoid jet lag on a long-haul flight often don black eye masks in hopes of getting some shut-eye.

They may look bland, but they work.

But on Thursday, five lucky Virgin Atlantic passengers will be able to snooze in considerably better style wearing a limited-edition mask, decorated with $4,000 worth of Swarovski crystals.

The airline introduced new amenity kits for its economy, premium economy and first-class passengers on Sept. 1. To celebrate, it’s tucking five swanky Swarovski eye masks — each with more than 3,000 red, white and blue crystals — in the amenity kits handed out in the economy section of five flights. The crystals were all hand applied (10 hours per mask) by Saima Anwar, an artist who also creates crystal eyelashes for celebrities such as Katy Perry.

Thursday’s winners could include passengers on any of the airline’s flights to or from 11 cities in North America, including New York, Chicago, Boston and Los Angeles.

Five eyeshades have been created to mark the launch of new amenity kits which are now appearing on board all Virgin Atlantic flights.

“As the majority of our flights leave at night, arriving in London in the morning, we want to make sure our guests are well rested to begin their days, whether they be traveling for business or pleasure,” said Chris Rossi, senior vice president North America.

Virgin Atlantic has been sweet on Swarovski for a while. Since 2003, the airline’s first-class cabins have featured Swarovski crystals on the cabin walls. Curtains adorned with more than 1,000 Swarovski crystals were recently added to the revamped first-class section on the airline’s A330 aircraft.

While only five passengers will score the cool, crystal-encrusted eye-masks, the new, complimentary amenity kits are sure to be keepers. Each economy class kit contains one of the airline’s signature red eyeshades decorated with one of six sunglass designs, including one with heart-shaped frame and another in a shutter style.

The premium economy kits are charcoal gray pouches made from recycled plastic bottles. The pouches have silk linings and are designed to double as travel wallets.

Virgin Atlantic’s first-class passengers will be issued amenity kits made from the same recycled material, but their pouches will be big enough to be reused as holders for tablet devices or e-readers.

Why upgrade an amenity that many other airlines don’t even offer to travelers in the coach cabin? “To enhance the customer experience to travelers in any class by offering a number of on- and off-board amenities not found with other carriers,” said Rossi.

Or, as the airline states in a news release, because it’s “all part of Virgin Atlantic’s commitment to sustainability, and going green (and gorgeous!).”

(My story about Virgin Atlantic’s new amenity kits and the Swarovski crystal encrusted mask give-away first appeared on NBC News Travel)

Photos courtesy Virgin Atlantic.