OTD

My old church used to collect the toiletries before Christmas every year to give to incarcerated women. I'd come in with a hotel laundry bag full.

MRY Flyer

My wife works with a local women's shelter where mothers and their children often arrive with only the clothes on their backs. My wife works with a team of local charities to gather up gently used clothing and delivers it to the center. All of my left over kits go to there. The feedback is that they appreciate the socks and hand creme most of all along with the container/bag which they repurpose to keep their makeup and other cosmetics in.

Bluehen1

Mine go to a women's shelter. I figure the kits are perfect for packing a few extra necessities into.

CIT85

I donate my amenities kits and hotel bath amenities to our local church when they feed and house the homeless over the holidays.

mmack

I just make up my own using the old mesh UA bags, and never open the amenity kits. That way they re-use them

In2ishn

Mine, along with all the toiletries I pick up in hotels go to shelters. I collect it all for a few months, divide the product types into separate bags, and bring in several bags of different products.

wpcoe

Unexpired? Is there a "use by" date on kits? I never thought about it, but I guess some of the creams or toothpaste might have a finite shelf life?

Aussienarelle

I donate them to local disasters. Usually fires. The UA kits are useful for the toothbrush and toothpaste but the shampoo, conditioner and lotion are very in demand. I have lived in areas which are fire prone. My first being the fires in JannalI (for the Aussies old enough to remember that dreadful fire that jumped the Georges River). I have also given them to friends and family traveling in Y (including myself at times).

Had not thought about local shelters so will add to the list.

Agree with one poster about not providing for non-local disasters. Cash is far more useful so they do not need to pay for the cost of transportation. Great 60 Minutes presentation on that issue. UA kits for local help, cash for other incidents.

l etoile

As this is not specific to UA, please follow it to Travel Buzz.

l'etoile
UA moderator

GUWonder

I sent over boxes of unused airline amenity kits and airline/hotel toiletries at around the height of the refugee influx into the EU in the late fall of 2015. I had a lot of stuff in storage in Europe that needed to go anyway.

Annalisa12

If I was homeless or in trouble I'd feel even worse getting an Emirates 1st class amenity kit.

JC1976

The UA Biz class kits are not very flashy or lux imo. The int'l first class might be. But it depends on the person getting it. I was thinking the opposite actually, maybe help them have the motivation to fly somewhere one day.

Redhead

I put mine, as well as all the little soaps, shampoos, etc. from hotels, into a big box in my closet. Then once or twice a year (depending on my travel load) i take it to the food bank along with my semi-annual Costco shop for them. They are appreciative and say that their customers like it too since those things can add up too and are hard to afford/prioritise

pinniped

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that they don't care one way or another which airline the kits come from. I have a few Emirates J kits and it's not obvious where they're from. If the stuff inside is of good quality, people will be happy to use it.

I keep and use the little shaving creams from the kits. We put some of the other items into a big bowl we leave in our guest room for when people stay with us. (Along with hotel soaps and shampoos.) Periodically, when the bowl is overflowing, we take a bag of stuff to a nearby church where it goes onward to various shelters.

GUWonder

People who wants socks, toothbrushes, toothpaste, shaving kits, ear plugs and blindfolds will often enough find the contents very useful. And the bags/kits holding those items are useful in their own way.

The least of their worries -- if even that -- is whether or not the goods are from or come in a first class holder.