Privacy suites, double-wide beds, Christofle cutlery: Business-class cabins have been on a dizzying luxury ascent for years.
But the game is changing. With so many carriers having overhauled their aircraft interiors and premium seats, airlines are now upgrading some of the finer points of their front-cabin services, such as amenity kits and meals. (If you’re in the back of the plane, that’s still business as usual.)
“Generally speaking, leisure travelers want an experience,” says Brian Sumers, aviation expert and founder of the Airline Observer newsletter. “Airlines have realized that if they want to compete for premium travelers, they need to wow them.”
Wowing travelers with swanky amenity kits is nothing new, of course. It’s been almost a decade since airlines began partnering with high-end retailers to elevate their brands, such as United Airlines Holdings Inc.’s business-class bedding partnership with Saks Fifth Avenue. But the latest additions represent first-time partnerships with some of the world’s best-known luxury powerhouses, as well as caviar and Champagne services that hark back to the glamour of air travel in the 1950s. “Airlines are screaming from the rooftops: We are premium!” says Sumers, adding that these sky-high perks tend to yield a greater reputational benefit for airlines than sales boosts for the associated retailers.
Here are the latest luxury amenities you can expect to find in premium cabins this year.
Haute Amenity Kits
If India is one of the fastest-growing markets for luxury travel, its national carrier is taking note and following suit with its new amenities introduced in December. On most long-haul Air India flights, first- and business-class flyers will now find Ferragamo cosmetic bags, each packed with the brand’s body lotion, hand cream, lip balm and—for first class only, a 5-milliliter bottle of perfume. It’s all part of an upscaling effort for India’s flag carrier following a 2024 merger with India-based premium airline Vistara, as part of a restructuring by the Tata Group; brand-new cabin interiors on Airbus A350 aircraft include flat beds in private suites in business class.
Also since December, business-class flyers on Singapore Airlines’ long- and ultra-long-haul routes have begun to receive amenity kits from New York-based fragrance house Le Labo, owned by Estée Lauder—a move that puts the airline in step with many high-end restaurants and hotels. The kits include lip balm, face mist and hand pomade, all neatly zipped up in a waxed canvas bag that’s designed to be repurposed as a passport holder.
The haute amenity kit trend extends stateside. In the past year, Delta Air Lines Inc. has introduced Missoni-branded kits, while JetBlue debuted Mint amenity pouches in partnership with New York City brands such as Caraa.
Perhaps the most decadent amenity kit of them all is now found on Dubai-based Emirates, which recently began gifting first- and business-class flyers with amenity kits from LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE-owned Bulgari; in addition to a bottle of eau de parfum, they include a gold-lacquered mirror from the storied Italian brand.
Deutsche Lufthansa AG, however, may be taking a page from luxury hotels with their swanky co-branded spas and limited edition designer merchandise. Its new amenity kits are from of-the-moment beauty brand, Augustinus Bader, available exclusively in the airline’s new Allegris First Class suites—whose seats can be heated and cooled with temperature controls. In a high-altitude pop-up of sorts, the airline is also gifting first class passengers on certain flights a limited edition loungewear set by Japanese artist Sho Shibuya during the month of February; the ombre pattern is like a gradient sky printed on organic cotton satin.
Caviar (and Fast Food)
Last summer, Qatar Airways began serving caviar—specifically, Siberian sturgeon—in business class on 13 international routes from Doha, including flights to New York, Hong Kong, London, Paris, Singapore and São Paulo. The servings clock in at 0.53 ounces (15 grams), paired with Balik-style salmon and sides of warm blinis and melba toast. It’s a service whose cost can quickly climb: In most places, an ounce of Siberian sturgeon costs about $50-$86, without the additional trimmings. Since August 2024, when the service started, there have been about 200,000 caviar servings in business class, the airline said.
And in keeping with a culture that marries caviar with chicken nuggets, Delta’s answer to first-class decadence is the Shake Shack cheeseburger, which appears on its first-class menus; the perk started in December 2024. Banana pudding from New York City’s Magnolia Bakery is also served in United First on select flights of more than 901 miles.
High-End Champagne
On Jan. 1, United Airlines announced it would begin serving Laurent-Perrier La Cuvée Champagne to its Polaris cabin flyers.
Also doubling down on premium bubbly: Singapore Airlines. In December the airline announced its first-class suites would become the only place to enjoy Cristal at 36,000 feet, thanks to an exclusive agreement with the French Champagne house Louis Roederer. Specifically, the winemaker’s 2015 vintage will be served on flights from Singapore to Delhi, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Paris, Shanghai, Sydney and Tokyo; additional routes will welcome the perk in March. (The airline will also continue to serve Krug Grande Cuvée and Taittinger Comtes de Champagne.)
A Sense of Place
If fashion, beauty and wine partnerships are the hot aviation trend of early 2025, Turkish Airlines may be planting the seeds for what comes next: amenities that double as an artisan souvenir from the place you’re about to visit. Its new kits, introduced on Jan. 2, include bags that are decorated with traditional ebru, an art form recognized by Unesco as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity. And yet, the hand cream, body lotion and lip balm inside are from Parisian luxury fragrance brand Ex Nihilo rather than a local outfit.
“The Unesco amenity kits serve as a unique introduction to the diversity and vibrancy of Turkish culture, inspiring passengers to explore the wonders of our home country,” said Akif Konar, chief operations officer at Turkish Airlines, in a press release. If rose-water-infused creams and argan oil face serums filled the bags in a future iteration, we’d consider it luxury of another order.
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