While my overall flight on Delta from Los Angeles to New York was average at best, I want to commend Delta for offering passengers a very practical and useful amenity kit.
Although I have a huge collection of amenity kits at home (much to my wife’s consternation), I generally view them as unnecessary niceties rather than as indispensable. I have so many amenity kits I don’t have to buy toothbrushes, toothpaste, or even La Prairie skin creme (thanks Lufthansa!).
But I don’t wear earplugs or eyeshades and the socks are usually too thin to be useful.
Delta has been partnering with TUMI for years for its amenity kits and I was very pleasantly surprised by the contents of the kit on my flight earlier this month.
The kit included:
- Toothbrush
- Crest whitening toothpaste
- Bombas socks (two pairs)
- Le Labo skin creme and lip balm
- Hand sanitizer
- Pen
- Eyeshade
Every single items was extremely practical. My lips were chapped and the lip balm came in very handy. I liked the toothpaste much better than the usual tiny tubes of Colgate. The mouthwash and hand sanitizer were useful. But most of all I appreciated the socks.
Socks get easily lost at my house and I go through so many pairs each year because one of them inevitably gets lost (or “misplaced” by my three-year-old son). But airline socks are generally intended to be single-use only. They are thin and of poor quality. Not these, however. I appreciated that it was like a gift…a nice pair of socks.
CONCLUSION
I’m impressed that Delta offers a full amenity kit on a domestic flight. In fact, it’s better than most airlines offer on international flights. The only airline that offers a more useful kit is Emirates. American offers a cheap Cole Hahn amenity kit on its premium transcon flights and United offers a similarly cheap Sunday Riley kit.
So well done Delta on your TUMI amenity kits!
@ Matthew — The FCQ loves DL Tumi kits! I swear we have a hundred of them. The two of you should start an addicts’ support group.
That’s good toothpaste, not the cheapo generic ones that some airlines use. Colgate is too strong and smelly for travel use, unfortunately.
@ derek — That is my favorite toothpaste. I buy the exact tube pictured in bulk (like 100 at a time) and use them everywhere.
Give them away. Friends, family, strangers.
AA discontinued the Cole Haan amenity kits earlier this year, replacing them with Athletic Propulsion Labs kits.
http://news.aa.com/news/news-details/2019/American-Airlines-leads-the-way-with-new-luxury-amenity-kits/default.aspx
They are similarly cheap, though.
What I will ding Delta for is that their Tumi kits are identical for both domestic and international routes. I agree they are standard setting domestically, but so-so internationally, though I really like the faux Tumi hardsided case either way.
You’re right. Thanks!
Could you do a post comparing Delta and United? You mention your delta flight was average but all your posts seem to rave about United. I always have the opposite experience so would like another perspective.
Sure, will do that in December.
I agree the Delta amenity kit is wonderful.
Interesting that they offer the same kits on first class domestic and international Delta One.
The toothbrush won’t be around for much longer: already some cities are preventing hotels from providing them; airlines will be next.
All of them go directly to landfill; it’s hard to make a case for them . Toothpaste is available to buy in 90 gram ( 3 oz) tubes. Passengers should take their own.
Dentists recommend replacing toothbrushes on a monthly basis. It’s going to happen either way.
@Paolo: Maybe we should all get into a bubble and stop living since anything we do now offends someone, the planet, the air, ….. Landfill is part of our lives and there are now many ways to recycle what goes there. No, people won’t use their fingers as toothbrush.
I don’t suggest living in a bubble but rather make the point that so much of what we consume is unnecessary: eg, using disposable toothbrushes in hotels . Let’s face it, they’re nasty , cheap things…and it makes far more sense to take one’s own.
As for landfill: there may be some creative solutions emerging in the first world, but in most places it’s just an untreated cess pile.
Delta offers, by far, the best and most consistent experience for domestic travel
1) Large route network with good on-time performance
2) Great schedule for premium transcons
3) good service
4) Large lounge network accessible with a card that earns transferable points
5) Reasonable buyups for first class
6) Ways to earn status faster with credit card spending
7) Miles worth a minimum of 1 cents when used to purchase airfare
I just flew D1 transpacific and still got the old malin and goetz amenity kit. In fact flew D1 transpacific 5 times since announced in June and never got the new amenity kit. Is it slowly getting rolled out?
Not to my knowledge. I received the Tumi kit on both LHR-JFK and the LAX-JFK flight.
Is the hand ‘cleanser’ able to be used as hand sanitizer… I have run out but have some in the Tumi Kits I have received over the past year….. Just wondering…