Amenity Kits: Are They Really All That?

I’m always excited to see an amenity kit review from Frequently Flying.  I have no idea why I like them so much, but I do.  I guess some of it has to do with that mysterious allure of what type of amenity kit you might get and what will be inside.

Now let’s face it, no one is going to buy an airline ticket or upgrade just for an amenity kit, but it’s certainly a fun part of airline travel. There are some amenity kits that are coveted – Tumi kits and  Rimowa kits make nice collectibles.

Frequently Flying ranked and rated the best amenity kits of 2012.   I agree with many of his choices but I have some thoughts of my own, of course.  Here’s what Frequently Flying came up with (and you can read his full article here)

First Class Female – Emirates Airways
First Class Male – Etihad Airways
First Class Unisex – Singapore Airlines

Business Class Female – Virgin Australia
Business Class Male – Qantas s
Business Class Unisex – Turkish Airlines

Premium Economy – Condor
Economy – Virgin Atlantic
In-flight Amenity Gift – Singapore Airlines

Here are my thoughts

The best actual kit, excluding the contents, is the Thai Airways First Class Tumi kit.  I will fully admit that I hoard them (and give them away frequently as prizes).  It always surprises me how many people in Thai Air first class leave behind unopened Tumi amenity kits.

The amenities inside the kit award, in my opinion, goes to United Airlines. Yes, I can hear the gasps now.  I personally think the best amenities are unscented and the Philosophy products that United provides are not only unscented, but good products.

Yes, it’s cool to get Givenchy(Thai), Red Flower (US Air), Sothy’s (Singapore) or Bvlgari (Asiana)  products – they look great in my powder room  – but I personally don’t like scented products and I like them even less in a confined airplane space.

I think the worst amenity kits belong to Air China’s business class amenity kit, Virgin Atlantic Economy Plus amenity kit (yes, I don’t agree with Frequently Flying on this one) and  Royal Jordanian business class amenity kit.

It’s also a fact that what’s inside an amenity kit, or what brand it is, is a #firstworldproblem.  There are millions of people in the world who don’t have clean drinking water, let alone soap, toothpaste and first-class amenities.  I specifically started the charity, www.firstworldfixes.org, to off-set our #firstworldproblem carbon footprint, so to speak.  And since I’m blogging about since a frivolous topic, I will be making a donation in the name of #firstworldfixes to water.org – a great organization. Did you know that more than 3.4 million people die each year from water, sanitation, and hygiene-related causes?

So in the end, amenity kits are a nice -yet frivolous – perk.