Virgin Atlantic unveils brand-new inflight amenity kit

Virgin Atlantic has unveiled its brand-new amenity kit, carrying the name of the "Goodie Bag." The airline will roll the Goodie Bags out first to the passengers sitting in the new Upper Class suite of its A350 aircraft beginning Sept. 10. TPG was sent a sneak preview of what to expect from the new kits.

The Goodie Bag itself has a unique feel to it, thanks to its material being a recyclable kraft paper. Some may argue that because of its recycled nature, the material of the bag feels on the cheap side compared to the offerings in other business classes.

Inside, the REN skincare products are natural and vegan. There's a lip balm, hand cream and face cream.

A major upgrade to the usual, flimsy, plastic toothbrush found in airline amenity kits, the Bambuubrush has a bamboo handle and charcoal-infused PBT bristles. It's also full-sized — not the usual mini version of a toothbrush.

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Virgin describes its new eyemask as "incredibly comfortable" and "total blackout." We tested this, and it is indeed comfy and no light was able to creep in — perfect for a good sleep at 36,000 feet.

Another welcome change is the move from the usual flight socks to actual socks, which come in various designs. We tried the socks on and can confirm that they feel much better than your average flight socks.

Finally in the new kit are a set of ear plugs and a pen. It's still just a pen, but is made mostly of recycled paper.

The amenity kit bag itself has enough space inside for a passport, an iPad mini or phone. The airline hopes that with the additional extra space, the bag will be something that you not only use while on board, but that you want to take off the flight with you and reuse again.

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The fun is not just for those flying up front in Upper Class. There will be a version of the Goodie Bag rolled out in premium economy. The premium economy version includes eyemask, earplugs, a smaller version of the BambuuBrush, toothpaste and pen.

There has also been a complete redesign of the Upper Class loungewear. Virgin hopes that passengers will want to reuse the new, stylish and more comfortable loungewear by taking it home with them and wearing again.

The T-shirt is a gray, light-weight crew-neck with long sleeves, and the material feels of good quality. The trousers are something between pajama bottoms and sweatpants and feature a stylish taper around the ankle. Strangely though, the pants only have one pocket on the right leg. At first glance, you probably wouldn't guess that this loungewear ensemble was part of an airline amenity kit and it certainly doesn't feel like it when you're wearing it.

The Upper Class loungewear sets will be available to all Upper Class passengers on night flights, as well as on request for day flights. It comes in three sizes.

Finally, the airline said that it's also going to offer economy passengers eyemasks, earplugs, dental kits, socks and pens upon request.

In a press release, the airline said that in the future, it's planning to reach the stage where it can personalize amenity kits so that each passenger has only the items that they would use.

Overall, the updates seem to be nearly the same in terms of contents as the previous Herschel-branded kits. Of course, the big draw with these Goodie Bags is that they're focused on being environmentally friendly. Virgin says that the new Goodie Bags save 945 tons of plastic per year, which is the equal to the weight of more than six Airbus A350-1000 aircraft.

All of the new soft product upgrades will be available on the carrier's first A350 flight on Sept. 10.