United's Queen of the Skies Amenity Kits Are a 747 Lover's Dream
In just a few weeks, United Airlines is retiring its entire 747 fleet. The final flight will carry passengers from San Francisco (SFO) to Honolulu (HNL) on November 7, and the airline's pulling out all the stops, commemorating both the retirement and its 747 inaugural from July 23, 1970.
Tickets for the final flight sold out within minutes, and two packages for a pair of economy seats on United Flight 747 ended up going for more than 500,000 miles each — this is clearly a moment that frequent flyers are willing to go far out of their way to experience.
You don't need to be flying a 747 to take home a piece of United's latest Queen of the Skies memorabilia, though — from late-October through January 2018, the airline is offering special 747-themed amenity kits on many of its flights.
Passengers flying in intercontinental Polaris business class will receive a large blue tin, with all of the usual items, including some with special 747 branding. Polaris first-class customers will receive a similar kit, with a silver finish, while transcon business-class passengers on premium routes will get a smaller tin.
United sent a few sample kits to TPG HQ — let's take a look inside...
Polaris Business Class
Customers traveling in Polaris business class — on the Boeing 747 and all other aircraft, such as the 777-300ER and 767-300 — will receive the blue tin below.
The contents are fairly standard, but several items are branded for the 747, including some pretty awesome disposable socks and a 747 eye mask. You'll also get a set of four 747 trading cards — there are 15 in total, and if you fly enough there's a good chance you'll eventually end up with all 15.
The Polaris first-class kit appears to be similar in size, but with a silver finish. Personally I prefer the blue — I imagine if you're flying first class you can request the business kit if you'd rather have that one.
Premium Transcon
United's also offering 747-themed tins in business class on its premium transcon routes, including Newark (EWR) to Los Angeles (LAX) and San Francisco (SFO), and Boston (BOS) to San Francisco.
These kits also include trading cards, in addition to an eye mask, ear plugs, dental kit, lip balm and hand sanitizer.
747 Trading Cards
I also received the full set of trading cards — a total of 15 are available, ranging from the 747-100 Friend Ship to the 747-400 flying today. You'll get four cards in each kit.
There was some overlap in the two kits I received, so it may take a few flights to build out the full collection.
Bottom Line
These commemorative amenity kits were quite a nice surprise — from the official November 7 farewell to hub-to-hub employee flights, United's really going all out to honor the Queen of the Skies.
If you're flying in Polaris first or business class, or in biz on a premium transcon flight, be sure to grab one of these kits — I know I'll be holding on to mine for years to come.
For more on the 747 retirement, see:
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