I recently published Amenity Kit Reviews for both the Turkish Airlines Business Class and Comfort Class (premium economy) offerings, and a couple of readers mentioned that economy passengers also receive kits.
From the Comfort Class review, reader PAB said:
I already knew that some airlines (none of them U.S. carriers, of course) provide coach passengers with limited amenities on international long-hauls, such as eyeshades and a toothbrush/toothpaste packet. But I wasn’t aware that Turkish went above and beyond by offering an actual kit.
After seeing my reviews and the comments about Turkish’s economy kit, Twitter friend Jamison who authors the Points Summary blog graciously donated one of his coach kits to my collection. It wouldn’t fare well under the critical scoring system I normally apply to amenity kits, so I’ve instead decided to simply post this overview.
Turkish Airlines coach amenity bag
Formia manufactured the cream-colored zipper bag that sports both the Turkish Airlines and Star Alliance logos. Inside the bag are the same single use socks, elastic band eyeshades and earplugs found in most amenity kits, as well as a plastic toothbrush with Forhans toothpaste and La Maxima lip balm.
Turkish Airlines coach amenities
Turkish Airlines wins big in my book for providing a substantial amenity kit for coach passengers, so I’ll give it an honorary, yet unofficial, “exceptional†rating. 😉
– Follow Darren Booth on Twitter, @FrequentlyFlyin, for more airline, hotel and travel industry news, reviews and opinions.
Related:
Turkish Airlines Business Class Amenity Kit Review
Turkish Airlines Comfort Class Amenity Kit Review
Forbes Lists World’s 7 Best First Class Amenity Kits
The Cost and Allure of Airline Amenity Kits
I flew TK earlier this year in regular economy and was surprised to receive an amenity kit. The contents I got are the same as in the picture above (though I don’t remember a toothbrush), but the containers each came in were different. I had four flights – two mesh bags (one grey, one red), a bag similar to the one in the picture, and then a rectangular metal tin with a beautiful photo of the Istanbul skyline on the top. The last one is too pretty to throw away!
@Tracy: Thanks for the info on the different cases! And oh no… you throw away amenity kits??!! 😉
Do you know if BA, CX, QF or any of the other prominent non US carriers offer an amenity kit in coach? Seems like a nice touch.
@aadvantagegeek: I believe Singapore Airlines offers limited amenities (eyemask/toothbrush) to coach passengers. I’m not sure about Qantas today, but when my parents flew them SYD-LAX in 2005-ish, they were provided with a little kit containing socks, an eyemask and toothbrush/paste (I just dug it out of my bins to double check… plus I found a similar offering from Philippine Airlines).
@aadvantagegeek: Oh, and I just found a British Airways coach kit with socks, eyeshades and a toothbrush/toothpaste set. I’m not sure what year it was from.
[Note to self: rummage through your amenity kit bins more frequently!]
BA offer a Toothbrush and earplug in a bag with your headphones (socks and eyeshades on request). The World Traveller Plus Kit contains a reasonable unbranded kit.
@Kevincm: Thanks for the current BA info!
I have a nice Virgin Atlantic coach amenity kit from a BOS-LHR (vintage 2009, in a sporty plastic bag), I also have an excellent AirFrance kit with eyeshades from a few years back
@Ben: Nice to hear of more airlines offering coach passengers amenities. 🙂
@ aadvantagegeek – CX used to have a kit in Y, similiar design to QF, zipper bag come with a landyard you can hang on in your neck. However, since CX had introduced premium economy, they have cut all the standard amenities in Y, all the stuff Y used to have only exist in premium economy including their amenity kit.
@ Darren – SQ actually have a kit in Y, it is a brown zipper bag printed Givenchy that has socks and toothbrush/paste. AF is only a tiny plastic bag in Y that has headset(the ones like AC, clip it by your ears), earplugs and eyemask, it is not a real kit.
@ORDnHKG: Thanks, as always, for your great insight and further background. It sounds like I’ll be getting a couple of new Y-kits (and others) soon from a generous blogger (Seth aka Wandering Aramean)
@ Darren – BA, VS, and AF had a basic kit for Y pax for years (more than 10 years), it wasn’t new at all, and nothing ever compare to that TK kit you mentioned in the photos above. There wasn’t any airline adding amenity kits to give out to Y pax at all, rather more airlines are cutting out amenity kit for Y pax. Other than CX, BR has also cut amenity kit for Y pax, in return only premium economy (elite class for BR) will get a kit.
@ Darren – It also seems BA’s basic Y kit had shrinked according to Ben’s comment above. It used to have socks, eyeshades, toothbrush/paste set all in the tear-to-open non-reusable plastic bag kit rather than some items now only on request.