Yesterday I wrote about American’s new brand heritage amenity kits and posted photos of the TWA business class amenity kit.
American is out today with more information.
These new amenity kits are offered in international business class and their New York JFK – Los Angeles / San Francisco first class cabins.
Non-Skid Slippers Are Coming..
For international first class, a little less exciting:
We’re introducing a new amenity kit that includes all of the items you already love – plus, by popular demand, we’re adding Scope® mouthwash for a breath of fresh air. But we’re not stopping there. If you’re planning to catch some zzz’s, we’ve added new pajamas and non skid 100% cotton terry slippers. So curl up, get comfortable and settle in for the long haul.
As you can see, business class get Scope so first class gets it too. I’ve always been a big fan of American’s pajamas, largely because they wash well and are relatively reusable compared to several other carriers’ offerings. I’ve re-worn them several times flying American in international business and on Hawaii flights. (I do try to match my pajamas to the airline I’m flying, when the carrier isn’t providing me with any – hah.)
But when the talking point is non skid slippers, I really think they need to rethink if they’re doing enough. Especially when it’s the first bullet point of the marketing communication. I also miss slippers in business class.
More Amenity Changes
Premium transcon flights in business class will see a new amenity kit, just not the heritage kit:
We’re introducing a brand new amenity kit that’s stocked with socks, eyeshades, a toothbrush, toothpaste and ear plugs. It’s everything you need to arrive feeling refreshed and ready to go.
As I reported yesterday, American drops Dermologica in favor of toiletry brand red flower. This will appear in Admirals Club showers as well.
More Free Food in Admirals Clubs
American takes a page from US Airways clubs.
- a hearty selection of soups
- Greek yogurt
- oatmeal
- “new sweet and savory snacks”
American’s domestic lounges are pretty weak on the free food though they have a paid menu (items and quality varying by clubs). I don’t mind paying, though many do, I just want better quality than what’s offered now. American is going the more free food route, which of course Delta is focusing on so it’s likely competitively necessary.
They’re also adding “new Dell PC workstations,” though I wonder if anyone really uses these?
What I am happy out is the overall design of the newer lounges like Buenos Aires and the LAX remote terminal and even the two year old re-do of Paris.
And the signaling here is excellent that the merged airline continues to invest in premium product even if the particular investments don’t strike a chord with me in a given instance.
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As the press release clearly denotes, they are also available in first MIA-LAX and business MIA-LAX, JFK-LAX/SFO. They are the heritage kits, just with different things inside.
It always seems like the airlines are sending me breathless emails talking about these “great” service improvements that will barely impact my “real world” travel — along with 99% of their other customers. Like I can’t imagine how many customers will be favorably impacted by seeing mouthwash in their int’l biz class amenity kit.
On the otherhand, it would be nice to find some free, edible food in the Admirals Club. In Philly this week, at about 7 am, the lounge snacks were still pretty terrible. Yes, there was Chobani yogurt: if this is an improvement over prior yogurt, I didn’t really notice. The only other thing to eat were these “bagels” that are still about the worst bagel you could be served in America. That was it. Still pretty darn lame. At least the coffee is drinkable.
@iahphx, actually, Chobani yogurt would be a great addition b/c as I recall, for Admirals Club, it’s not that Chobani would be an improvement over prior yogurt, it’s that there never was yogurt to begin with.
i am very pleased with the enhanced free food service. Can you tell us when the enhanced menu will be available? And if it will be available in all American lounges?
they still have a long way to go to match star alliance or
cx lounges
@DWT I guess yogurt was a US Airways thing, along with soup. So the “big change” in the Philly lounge was simply Chobani instead of other yogurt.
Strangely, the free food was probably better in the US Airways Clubs than the Admirals Clubs. “Better” being relative: still bad, but better than what AA offered. So now the Admirals Clubs are being brought up to that standard, plus a few very modest additional improvements (like Greek yogurt instead of regular yogurt).
I got the 100K Executive World Elite card and I was shocked at how poor the Admiral’s Club lounges are. I quickly made up my mind not to renew the card, but maybe I’ll change my mind if the food selections get better. I’m always happy when I find a shared Admiral’s Club (Seattle and Denver, to name two). They tend to be a lot better. At least you can get a microbrew in Seattle and a nice breakfast selection vs the Coors and Bud products and yoghurt typically served in AA’s other lounges.
Glad to see the Admiral’s Clubs are getting in line with what the ‘old’ US Airways Clubs have offered for quite some time now.