Testing Out American Airlines' New Amenity Kits

Must be a very slow news day. (And yeah, I'm having a slow work day thus the scan and comment.)

Does anyone really buy a ticket based on the amenity kit? Maybe some FF collect them but geez.

"also find it interesting that it doesn’t have a discount code or credit card pitch. How am I supposed to take advantage of the exclusive inflight offer?"

If they start putting that in then I'm blaming you!

The thing you ask about in the first class kit is a cord taco. Probably the most useful thing in the kit!

Taco cord holder that use to be sold by restoration hardware. There are very nice - https://www.restorationhardware.com/catalog/product/product.jsp?productId=prod9610121

The thing in the upper left hand corner of the international first class amenity kit picture is a cord taco. From the This is Ground website:
"The Cord Taco will help you clean up all of those wires in your bag, pocket, car or wherever they are. The premium leather greatly changes the look from messy to cool and organized. The taco is made from 100% leather and seals shut with a metallic snap. Works great for earbuds, USBs and other small wires."

Can someone please explain to me the point of the socks? Why do all amenity kits tend to have them and what is the scenario in which you would want to wear the airlines' socks v. your own? Does anyone actually think that wearing them over your own somehow makes it less gross to walk around the cabin or to the lav barefoot? (I have seen people do this - yuck!)

I always thought that was the weirdest component of amenity kits.

Sam - this is my take on socks. I wear them for the long haul (12-15hr flights) and that way my own socks dont get smelly staying on my feet that long. Dump the plane socks upon landing and off I go. Others may feel differently.

@Sam - What Chatter said 🙂

ONLY 3 THINGS: Long Haul (ie more than 6 hours)
Boarding early
Seat must be flat
amenity kit and PDB shows kindness
food on flight
>>>>> not rocket science.

An improvement over last year’s Cole Haan but not memorable.

For those of you that wear the socks... Do you sleep at home with socks on???

The first class one with the cord taco also immediately made me think of reusing it to organize my makeup using the stretchy cord thing to put my stuff in, or to organize ear buds and cords in a row. I can think of a couple ways to use it honestly and would love to get something like it. Plus you know, first class is nice.

@Anon - are you comparing personal home with public transportation?
If yes, then you have other issues nothing to do with socks.

I'm just happy to see the bigger Crest travel-sized toothpastes back in the kit. Those little one-and-done ones are annoying and purposeless after using them once.

I think they ought to give passengers the option of returning the full kit and picking up only the amenity items they want or need from the galley like they do with mid-flight snacks. Some of us don’t use most of the things in those amenity kits, don’t want to repurpose the bags and also don’t want to see more non-biodegradable trash piling up around the world unnecessarily. I reuse eye masks as much as possible, but every so often, I need a new one. I’ll use my own toothbrush and toothpaste.

I love teeny tiny toothpaste tubes. On some trips, the regular travel size isn’t quite enough, but I don’t want to bring a bigger one due to space constraints. I just throw a couple of these baby tubes in and toss as they are used up and I get through the trip just fine.

Also, not sure if the cord taco has a soft/suede side, but I’ve seen leather lens cleaners before, so maybe it can be multipurpose?

The packaging of most amenity kit is useless. Soft cover is better than hard. Little Rimowa suitcases are cute but useless and bulky. Good for American adding mouthwash and tissues to some, but they are missing a comb or small brush. Much more useful than lotions that are in the lavatory.

The cases themselves look useful to me. I would repurpose them as electronic cord, cable, and accessories holders. The cord taco would even match.

baxter is the best brand in any of those... shame they didn't include some of their better products in the intl F & J bags.

To the anon who asked about sleeping with socks on at home. I sleep in the buff. Your point?

Slow news day/ week. Who cares about an amenity kit? Sure, some are nicer than others, but not all that important when choosing a flight. Yawn!

So useless bags with no secondary purpose/utility (unlike the current ones which are useful), filled with crap contents that are destined for the trash?

Got it.

I'll be flying First Class to Maui from the Midwest on AA, taking longer and costing more than some international First Class flights. Lucky, why no amenity kits on this type of flight?

Got one of the black This is Ground bags yesterday on ICN-DFW and was not impressed. The leather is quite nice, but the half-fold and pouches are poorly designed and barely hold the contents in place. I flipped open the bag mid-flight and the half of the contents dropped right out. Not a keeper for me.

The premium economy one is very nice. Many carriers don't give out kits for premium economy.

@Linda - I hear you but it’s because Hawaii is 90% recreational travelers going there. That’s why airlines fly their shittiest planes there. Because they can and no one cares. They did that jfk-sfo there would be pitchforks. Why don’t they provide amenity kits, sane reason it’s not lie flat....because they can and don’t need to do otherwise.

As a collector of airline memorabilia, I try to get one of each amenity kit! Have Pan Am, TWA, USAir, BA 'wash bag' and others. Some have unusual items, like a TWA folding clothes hangar. KLM & Air France had pencil cases, CD cases and a lunch box. Recently AA did a legacy series, a bag for USAir, TWA, AirCal, American retro, PSA, America West, Reno, Alleghany, and Piedmont! Leaving a plane I ask the Purser if I may have a 'left-over' amenity kit. Many times I'll be offered a fresh, new one rather than one left behind. Spares are donated to a women's shelter. PS I wear socks in bed on very cold nights!

Amenity kits are so wasteful and duplicative of stuff I already take with me. I rarely accept them nowadays, only if I have a use for the bag (I’m using a Finnair one as a cable organiser right now).

I usually put on the socks and then forget about the Casper slippers.

Going to be flying home next week and hope to see the new amenity kits on PE. About the socks, I always fly with brand new pair of socks.

Gotta say, American should just ditch these. An amenity kit is something pleasant if you're giving your passengers actual premium products like Aesop, but with this stuff...

Just put some toothbrushing kits in the lavs and have a few of the other products boarded so that they're available upon request. Ditch the kits and prevent what's inevitably going in the trash from being produced in the first place.

That indirectly sounds like a cash back program.

Not impressed at all. Fabric ones look best in my opinion and could be reused for something, maybe... I usually use amenity kit bags for cables (Delta Tumi) and toiletries. I have one fabric, zipped one from American and it's quite good.

I use socks on long haul flights, just wear them instead of mine. And any spare use at home. Have quite a collection by now. I would never walk without shoes on a plane. I usually take amenity kits apart and sort toiletries, so I can use them later and put socks in a drawer. Sometimes, if amenity kit is nice (Emirates, Qatar, etc), I give it away to friends.

I like getting amenity kits and like reading the reviews of them when I am between travels. I do like the idea of having some ingredients in the galley or restroom to pick up as needed to avoid duplication of containers/bags that may not be needed.

For contents, I prefer hand sanitizer/wipes to eyemasks; tpaste/brush are helpful; the creams/potions could be in the restroom and used as needed. Best item in a kit was a folding brush from a Lufthansa kit some years ago.

As mentioned above, I donate any extra items to shelters.

@Meowly - Not really, i just took UA869 and UA838 in the past two weeks, while getting off the plane, i looked in polaris to see if there are any leftover kits since UA‘s kit is nothing special, to my surprise all were taken, looked through every seat and couldnt find one.

NZ, JL, and NH had gone through that way by passing out amenity basket for you to take whatever you need instead of an actual kit, it didnt work and passengers complain they are being cheap, as they spend thousands for a business class seat but dont even get a kit that cost $5, even the world‘s most reluctant airline on giving out kits in business, SQ had been testing kits for business in the past 3 months for business class, they always have kits for F but never for C.

Its a nice touch that doesn't cost much. My kids got them from my brother when he use to travel all over the world. Keep them and give them to someone and brighten their day.

OMG Do you sleep without socks on the plane ?

i wish amenity kit is also available in Economy Class

My question is as a last resort here. I am trying to upcycle these from a recent adventure and need to know the size of snap in the center of the amenity kit, please.