Alitalia and BAYART Innovations have collaborated on new amenity kits for child passengers.
Introduced in mid-May, the kits is available to all children aged 2 to 12 travelling on intercontinental flights in all cabin classes.
The new kit a box-shaped postcard contains a two-sided face eye mask emblazoned with ‘Wake me Up’ and ‘Let me sleep’, a toothbrush and toothpaste, Non-slip, washable and reusable socks, reusable headphones compatible with most electronic devices, a game book and coloured pencils.
New research from British Airways has shown that children today take their first flight three times earlier than their parents did, and by the age of ten will have travelled to four different countries.
One in 10 babies take to the skies before they have even turned a year old – and a tenth of under-17s are even signed up to airline loyalty programmes. This is in stark comparison to their parents, as a fifth of those surveyed, didn’t get on a plane until they were 18.
Claire Bentley, managing director for British Airways Holidays, who commissioned the research, said, “Air travel has become much more accessible to people over the last few decades. We now live in a connected world, where new destinations are opening up all the time and as a result, children are not seen as restrictive to travel, but essential travel companions, with rich experiences and new cultures to discover. Many family holidays are now taking place abroad allowing children to experience a flight at a very young age.
“To make travelling with little ones easier; this summer we’ve introduced a number of new initiatives at our home at Heathrow; including family boarding passes, a dedicated check-in area and fast-track security exclusively for travellers with children under 12.”
Despite this wanderlust, one in ten parents admitted to being unprepared for their first flight as parents. A third confessed to forgetting to take their child’s favourite toys (34%), while one in five (21%) even forgot to pack their child’s medication. A quarter (27%) failed to plan their child’s sleep around the flight times.
As a result, four in 10 parents find travelling with children – from newborns all the way to 17 – stressful and the biggest fear when flying with kids is how to keep them entertained for the duration of the flight. This is followed by worries about disturbing other passengers and the pressure in the cabin causing their kids pain. Their fears may not be justified though as only 16% said they have been left embarrassed by their child’s behaviour on a flight.
Emirates has become the first airline to introduce web virtual reality (VR) technology on its digital platform, emirates.com, letting customers navigate from one seat to another, as well as allowing would-be customers to book their preferred seats from within the 3D environment.
The 3D seat model is a visualisation engine that displays an immersive 3D 360 degree view of the interior of the Emirates A380 and the Emirates Boeing 777, giving customers a chance to explore their seats, the spacious cabin and the Emirates on-board product.
This new feature allows users to navigate through the economy, business and first class cabins, as well as the Onboard Lounge and Shower Spa on the Emirates A380 using navigational hotspots.
Alex Knigge, Emirates’ senior vice president, Corporate Communications, Marketing and Brand (Digital), said, “As we continually invest to provide our customers with an unmatched travel experience on-board and on the ground, we also work very hard to give our customers a world-class digital experience. We are pleased to be the world’s first airline to introduce this cutting edge web VR technology, which offers our customers an immersive opportunity to learn more about the fantastic Emirates experience before they step on board. In our usability tests with customers, we found that they particularly appreciated the 3D seat and cabin models when selecting their seats.”
The immersive experience is now available for the three class Emirates A380 but will soon include renderings of Emirates’ entire fleet including all configurations of the A380 and Boeing 777 aircraft.
The 3D 360 degree views of the cabins also feature a virtual reality element for a more immersive experience. Users can enjoy hands-free cabin navigation and seat selection by using any VR headset like Google Cardboard. This award-winning technology is compatible with all devices without the need for external applications or plugins. The 3D seat models were created in partnership with Renacen who were awarded the Crystal Cabin for the best visionary concept for this project at the recent Crystal Cabin Awards.
In addition to the new 3D cabin models, new product videos are available on emirates.com which illustrate the end to end travel experience across all cabins. The videos serve as a guide, giving new customers a clear idea of all the features of the Emirates travel experience.
Passengers flying in Asiana Airlines’ premium classes can enjoy two brand-new amenity kits from 1 May, developed by on-board equipment specialist SPIRIANT.
Asiana’s first class guests can receive a revamped Salvatore Ferragamo bag with a newly updated design. Now in two shades of grey, it also matches the interior’s ‘Tuscan Soul Quintessential’ cosmetics collection by Bianco die Carrara. The kit’s functionality has also been boosted with the addition of a loop handle on the top.
Meanwhile, business class travellers can enjoy a L’Occitane iPad Mini Case, made with a padded cotton canvas with a wide zippered opening so it can be used as an iPad Mini or small tablet case. The kit will be available in two colour combinations over the course of the contract: brown and beige to match the Asiana business class cabins and navy and green to echo the L’Occitane label.
“We have enjoyed a highly creative and innovative relationship with Asiana Airlines with the introduction of amenity kits for all classes,” said Angie Fung, general manager amenities at SPIRIANT. “Moving forward with these exciting new amenity kits for first and business class, Asiana has trusted us to deliver top product quality as always and in an efficient timespan. We already have early indications that their reception has been very positive.”
EVA Air has partnered with design brand Georg Jensen to create a new amenity kit for its Royal Laurel and Premium Laurel Class passengers.
Launched in April, the new Georg Jensen branded kits have a duo bag design, featuring a black safiano bag with a detachable chocolate brown bag. The kits can be used for glasses, jewellery, technology storage, as a wash bag, or for a variety of travel items.
Designed and created by Buzz, the new Business Class kit has been made to be able to be re-used post-flight as a travel organiser and to appeal to male and female passengers.
Each kit contains premium 3LAB skincare products comprising ‘Perfect’ Hand Cream, ‘M’ Cream Ultimate Lift Eye Cream and ‘Perfect’ Lip Balm. Also included are a Georg Jensen dust bag, Georg Jensen eyeglass cloth, comb, socks, eye mask, earplugs and a White Glo Dental kit.
