An amenity kit on a domestic flight? Yep… Virgin Australia offers amenity kits to business class passengers flying its premium A330s on transcontinental runs from both Melbourne and Sydney to Perth. Here’s a review of the men’s version for this installment of Amenity Kit Reviews. For a better description of each category and the 7-point scale for scoring, please review my introductory post.
Bag/Container: The rectangular zipper bag designed by Buzz Products sports a 100% nylon, battleship gray exterior with a leather patch sewn into the lower right corner embossed with the Virgin Australia logo. It zips open easily to reveal a 100% polyester interior vibrant in the Virgin Australia purple found on many inflight elements. Two small pockets are also found on one side of the interior. Reusability is high and while I wouldn’t call nylon and poly luxurious, it’s acceptable for business class. A handle of some sort or the ability to hang it on the lavatory door might have bumped this case up to 6. Score: 5
Skin Care: Virgin Australia partners with Australian organic alchemist Grown for its skin care products. The kit includes generous tubes of vanilla & orange peel hand cream and vanilla & watermelon lip balm housed in a nifty box. You need to puncture each tube with the reverse side of the cap and I had a devil of a time getting the lip balm to fully puncture. It, oddly, is gritty and not silky like its description (bad tube/batch?). I love the hand cream, however, as well as the additional Grown amenities of lotion and hand wash in the lavatories. Score: 5
Oral Care: A full-size toothbrush with very soft bristles (a welcome relief for dentists everywhere) and a tube of Colgate toothpaste are included with this kit. Standard fare and it gets the job done. Mints and/or mouthwash would have definitely bumped the score up. Score: 4
Comfort Items: The expected socks, eyeshades and earplugs are in the kit, but each are a caliber above standard. The socks are soft and made with a higher thread count than many other business class kits, and the Velcro-enabled eyeshades are oversized and equally soft. A comb and razor are included in the description of the men’s kit on Virgin Australia’s blog, though weren’t inside mine. Score: 5
Intangibles: The kit itself contains more than you could ask for on a simple transcontinental flight and for that simple reason, I’m giving it a top rating in this category. It’s definitely an exclusive amenity. I love the color matching to other brand elements, too. Score: 7
Total score & comments:
It’s a very good kit and also includes a pen and VIP invitation card from Grown for a complimentary facial serum valued at AU$59 with any purchase at Grown.com. Job well done, Virgin Australia, and an improvement from your last business class kit.
Related posts:
Amenity Kit Review: Virgin Australia Business Class (November 2011)
Flight Review: Virgin Australia Business Class Sydney to Perth
Amenity Kit Review: Virgin Australia Premium Economy (November 2011)
I’ve noticed the same thing with the lip balm in 3-4 kits over the past 12 months, so not a one off. I also found the hand cream a little greasy – although still quite good.
@Troy: Ah, good to know about the lip balm. And so true about the razors. Personally, I’ve never shaved on a plane, though do take the razors with me for “emergency” use (they end up sitting in a drawer at home).
oh and no razor or comb in any of mine either, but really for short haul domestic (or even short hall international) as razors not needed. Plus they tend to be cheap disposable things that hack away more of your face than the hair they remove! 🙂
Wow, I’m impressed that they even offer a kit on a domestic flight. Do you know if Qantas does the same?
The razor and comb are only for their international long haul flights on the 777s – so the kits are slightly different on domestic flights to cater for different needs. The same goes for their female kits, different contents.
@Alba: Thanks, that’s sort of what I figured. Still, though, I’m very impressed at domestic flight even offering an amenity kit.
@AAdvantage Geek: I’m not sure if Qantas does the same. I’ll be flying with them in the next six months or so and will have to ask.
Hey AAdvantage Geek
Well done to Virgin though for once again raising the bar on domestic flights. I think with QF if the flight itself is operated by international crew (and aircraft) you may receive them. But typically for domestic flights they don’t do them at all.