American Airlines Introduces New Amenity Kits

American Airlines is today introducing new amenity kits, though they don’t look like anything to get too excited about, if you ask me.

New amenity kits from Shinola and D.S. & Durga

American Airlines is rolling out new onboard amenity kits for premium cabin customers, thanks to a new partnership with Shinola and D.S. & Durga:

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• The amenity kits themselves have been created by Shinola, a Detroit-based luxury design brand known for watches and leather goods
• Some of the products in the amenity kits are from D.S. & Durga, a New-York based perfume company — the amenity kits include the Rose Atlantic and Radio Bombay aromas in lip balms and lotions

There are different kits depending on whether you’re traveling in first class, business class, or premium economy, and depending on whether you’re on a long haul or premium transcontinental flight.

Here’s the international first class amenity kit, available exclusively in 777-300ER first class on long haul flights:

Here’s the international business class and transcon first class (which includes A321T first class) amenity kit:

Here’s the international premium economy and transcon business class amenity kit:

These new amenity kits are rolling out on flights between the United States and London as of today, and should be rolled out to more long haul international and transcontinental flights throughout the summer.

I have to be honest, I don’t know much about either brand that American is partnering with here, other than that D.S. & Durga also provides toiletries for Thompson hotels. To me, the kits as such look rather unremarkable.

When I was a teenager I’d collect airline amenity kits and get so excited about them, though personally I have a hard time getting excited about them nowadays:

• As you can tell based on how often American switches the brands it works with, clearly these partnerships are about which companies are willing to give American products for next to nothing as a way of promoting what they’re offering
• I can’t help but feel like amenity kits are just kind of wasteful; personally I’ll take a tube of toothpaste from an amenity kit since that always comes in handy, but other than that, you’re best off just donating these kits, in my opinion
• There are some exceptions, like airlines with truly awesome amenity kits, where they’re useful to keep in the long run to store cords or other things, but those are the exception rather than the norm

American Airlines’ limited edition clocks

Here’s something that some aviation geeks may like. As an extension of the partnership between American Airlines and Shinola, a limited edition desk clock is being created featuring a dial made entirely from a retired MD-80 aircraft.

There are a total of 1,000 for sale, and they retail for $395 each. There are two options:

• There’s a desk clock featuring the American Airlines logo
• There’s a desk clock not featuring the American Airlines logo

It’s no doubt a cool concept for avgeeks, though at this point a desk clock is about as useful to me as a fax machine or a pager, so I’ll pass.

Bottom line

American Airlines has rolled out new amenity kits, thanks to a new collaboration with both Shinola and D.S. & Durga. While these are brands that some people seem to like, personally I find the kits as such to be rather uninspiring. Then again, I find amenity kits in general to be kind of wasteful, so I’m not terribly invested one way or another.

What do you make of American Airlines’ new amenity kits? And is anyone picking up an MD-80 desk clock?