Kenya Airways

✅ Trip Verified | We were delayed leaving Amsterdam by 2 and a half hours. So we missed our connection to Lusaka. We were rebooked on the next flight 5 hours later. I checked an Independent site for departures from Nairobi today and it said our 1:30 pm departure for Nairobi was delayed until 18:30. Our 3rd delay on this trip. I told the staff in the lounge this and they assured me I was wrong. Of course I was right and knew more than the Kenya Airways staff who only got the news at the boarding gate. Their display board still has our flight leaving in time at 1:30 pm. They never change hoping that in some parallel universe their lies may be believed. They offer nothing by way of compensation even though this flight originated in the EU. Compensation sites don't deal with Kenya Airways as they refuse to pay. The staff couldn't care less but I don't think they can be blamed for being so uninformed. They offer at business class a free dump if a hotel (not a known brand) but here's the catch. You must get your own online and complicated visa which asks you where you are staying but you don't know. Then it's a long queue for a hotel allocation, in the Same queue as lost luggage. Total chaos. Then a wait for a ratchet bus that only moves off when full. They do not want to help in any way. KLM and Air France should distance themselves from this airline. I don't think you can complain through their website either.

✅ Trip Verified | Flew from Bangkok via Nairobi to Kigali 2nd April 2024 on B787-800 and B737-800, respectively. Both flights were about full and briefly on time. I had chosen my favorite seats beforehand (free for elite card status holders). Easy and fast check-in in BKK, including being given unofficial advice on how to enter Fast Track for Immigration and Security. These used to be a Skypriority perk, but they have cancelled this except for premium class travellers. The Skyteam lounge in pier F delivers and still improves on hot foods and French sparkling wine. First flight called for boarding far too early, almost 2 hours before scheduled departure. The F5 gate as KQ uses, however, is only 200 meters away from the lounge so I went back again as the dull gate hall atmosphere kills my mood. Airbridge while boarding, but bus-gating while exiting in Nairobi. Onboard could stretch my legs as I wanted as the 25th row has unlimited leg-space and they availed space to me avoiding having someone sitting at the neighbouring seat. That later enabled me to sleep well. Preordered seafood was delivered to perfection with handwritten name on it. So, we had dinner at 2 a.m., but it was very welcomed. The flight provided me 3 hot meals which is more than fair for a 9 hours flight. Inquired and got an extra portion of different nature, a freshwater fish meal, which also proved tasty. The most delicious meal was, to my surprise, the breakfast. Here they’ve made seafood pieces into scrambled eggs, extremely delicious and innovative. Drinks came around late and after food was served. The Tusker beer was awful, the white wine was undrinkable, but the red wine was surprisingly good (Shiraz grape from Stonedale Winery, South Africa). No bubbles in economy class, however. The FAs managed well the full flight. They answered call bells, were fit, jovial, and well rested, focusing on their job and talkative with passengers. Transfer in Nairobi was tedious due to bus drive and huge queues for security checks. Thus, I missed the lounge. Last flight to Kigali was more spartanic and uneventful, had to cheer up the staff. Exit seats reclinable (row 19), was again given a neighbour free seat. Boarding upon walking on the tarmac 300 meters. Catering was only a plain, cold croissant (short morning flight), but hot and soft drinks were frequently served. IFE working well (both flights) but headsets not provided. Disembarking by walking was fine to get grounded. Luggage arrived unharmed and instantly. Recommend. Have 4 more KQ-flights in the pipeline and look forward to them.

Not Verified | I frequently fly to Kinshasa and chose this time to use Kenya Airways as their business class was the cheapest available and the flight was from Heathrow, only ten minutes from home. The seat was comfortable enough but the inflight entertainment was limited. Cabin crew on the outward flights were charming and attentive, but rather dour on the return flight. Flight delays were a feature of the trip, with NBO-FIH delayed by an hour, then FIH-NBO delayed by 12 (!) hours with no explanation. It meant missing my NBO-LHR connection and waiting for 16 hours in Nairobi airport. Luckily I was in business class so could spend the wait in the well-appointed lounge. In future, although it is more expensive, I will stick to Brussels Airlines.

✅ Trip Verified | 05 Oct 2023 London-Nairobi. We are a couple and booked mid 2023 for tickets departing London KQ103 at 11:10 a.m. Kenya Airways deliberately put us on flight KQ101 departing 18:25 No prior notification long before as it is the rule. On same day 5 Oct morning as we were on the way to the airport, we noticed an email for the online check-in with the change of time = 6 hours waiting at LHR. Missing correspondence to our final destination. And yet flight KQ101 at 11:10 a.m. did operate and left London at that time. We raised claim/Incident created 13 Oct 2023, after resisting emails from us with objective and justified case, after a first odd reply and full of non sense from Kenya Airways, they offered us a compensation of 600 Eur per person while requiring a list of documents from us. We sent all documents they required - 15 Nov 2023 : KQ confirmed good receipt of our documents all correct, and assured payment to take over 2 months and we are yet to see the amount back in our account-, no answer. We had sent 5 reminders. We also noticed on KQ customer space our case as «Incident closed. 3 Mar 2024 at last email from Kenya Airways pretending excuse and announced payment is actively under process. For a simple bank transfer, 5 months? On 16 Mar 2024 still no money to our account.

Not Verified | My recent experience with Kenya Airways was incredibly disappointing. During a transit from Nairobi to Addis Ababa, the airline made a critical mistake, resulting in us missing our connecting flight. Despite having a transit time of only one hour and 40 minutes, we were left stranded at the airport for over 24 hours without any proper assistance. After the airline acknowledged their error, they offered no immediate solution or support. We were left to fend for ourselves, with no food provided and no accommodation arranged, forcing us to sleep on uncomfortable chairs in the waiting area. Attempts to seek assistance from the manager were futile, as no help was provided. Furthermore, the lack of options for purchasing food at reasonable prices within the airport, coupled with restrictions on bringing food from outside, only added to our frustration. This experience not only caused significant inconvenience but also led to me missing out on a special occasion. I strongly advise against using Kenya Airways and urge fellow travelers to consider alternative options. The lack of basic care and assistance during such a distressing situation is unacceptable, and I have no intention of flying with this airline again.

Not Verified | Delayed and cancelled flights so arrived 10 hours later that originally expected. Given 2 samosas and offered a breakfast because of missing my connecting flight and having to wait 7 hours ... the food packaging was ripped and some of the breakfast removed, everything was cold, old and dry. The attendant were uninterested and offered little information or help. Arrived in Manchester to hear that my luggage was still in Kenya so I had to wait 2 days for it to arrive with no warm clothes or shoes and no medication.

✅ Trip Verified | Kigali to Amsterdam via Nairobi 4th Feb. 2024. Ticket cheap, promotional, purchased instantly after KQ resumed their NBO flights to China via Bangkok. Trip started well, check-in in KGL clear though tedious (20-40 minutes per person in Skypriority line!). Luggage inscribed the whole way inclusive of an additional leg to Hanoi on another ticket with Vietnam Airlines, another SkyTeam alliance member. That would ease my transfer in BKK. Later, the trip became an unreasonable lengthy Odyssey over 4 days: due to just a two hours delayed departure from KGL, I missed connection NBO-BKK which was closed at gate (or cancelled; I have different information on this). First, KQ sent me from the now closed gate 11 in NBO to gate 8 to board with Qatar Airways to DOH and then to HAN (final destination). However, I had to decline as only NBO-DOH was booked and acknowledged by QR. The remaining sector was not booked and QR refused to book me through to Hanoi. Then I had to queue up at KQ-transfer desks, who eventually told me that they alternatively would provide me hotel in Kenya until their next departure 2 days later (!!). On top, they further needed a supervisors approval to this long stay. I would go on next direct flight, but had to await ticket re-issuance. In the meantime they sent me to their Prime Lounge in NBO to wait for details. Went airside/landside/airside and had to endure 2 security checks. The details dragged on; however, at 4 a.m. I was, without any dialogue, laconically, sent a rebooked itinerary NBO-AMS by KQ and then AMS-BKK by KLM. That detour implied a 2-3 times longer trip with arrival in BKK a day later than planned. They then saved on hotels but added on flight costs. I thought I better accept this solution as to discuss options seemed not easy and I was too tired to make a fuss, and would then arrive a day earlier than feared. Those two trips went well; I narrowly managed transfer in AMS, but my luggage was not following me. It apparently stayed on in Nairobi; this I arrived BKK without my luggage. It only arrived there with KQs own flight the following day. I had in the meantime postponed and rebooked my onwards tickets with Vietnam Airlines who of course could not sent my luggage with me as it had not yet arrived Bangkok yet. However VN did a great job to retrieve it and eventually submitted it to my private address in Vietnam upon an extra day and some ongoing actions from my side. Not to the benefit of Kenya Airways… Flight 1 Apart from the delay, it was a fine trip on a well occupied B737-800. Lounge in Kigali was accessed through my Flying Blue Gold Card and was a pleasure. Food is good, including several hot dishes and savory snacks. Drink options are very sparse but well stocked. As usual, gate calls in Kigali are done way too early and even before arriving aircrafts have landed. If adhered to, one would sit in the dull gate area for 1-2 hours instead of enjoying the lounge to a maximum. Thus, I refused to be chased out of lounge early as there were no reason to rush for nothing. Boarding easy. Onboard, I got my wanted seat and preordered seafood-meal. Wines onboard are drinkable as compared to those served in the lounge. Flight 2 a Boeing 787 aircraft, a bit worn. On time. Flight was not full; I was given three seats to flat out as I was deprived sleep struggling in the airport the previous night. Flight crew were very good. Two full meal servings. IFE is OK.

✅ Trip Verified | All legs on this flight were delayed. From Johannesburg to Accra the journey took 18 hours and from Accra to Johannesburg it took 20 hours. Staff seldom gave correct information. On the left from Accra to Nairobi we asked the crew how much longer. She replied an hour and a half. within 5 minutes the captain states we are ready to descend.

✅ Trip Verified | The boarding was late, the service onboard very average for a business class product, connecting flight was chaotic, onboard services hardly had options. What is concerning is the Captain of the flight had his 2 sons on the flight from Nairobi to Cape Town and allowed them access to the cockpit for both take off in Nairobi and landing in Cape Town on KQ784 for 18 January, so not even safety is respected.

✅ Trip Verified | This is our first time flying with Kenya airways & will be the last. We are in Africa for a 25th anniversary trip & we were flying (KQ flight 471) from Kigali to Nairobi on 19th Jan 2024. We arrived at the airport at 7 am for the 9.10 am flight. Minutes after take-off, the pilot announced that we were returning to the gate, as a "door latch wasn't closing" & they needed to have it looked at. At around 10 am, after half an hour sitting on the flight, they said we needed to get off & they would give us an update. After sitting around for 3 hours, at 1 pm, we were told that we would be put on a flight at 7 pm, and that they were going to bus us to a hotel for lunch & to wait. We had a flight to Zanzibar at 6.30 pm on Jan 19th, but since we weren't even supposed to leave Kigali till 7 pm, we knew we would not make our connection. The Kenya Airways rep assured all of us that all of us would "automatically" be booked onto connecting flights & we didn't have to worry about a thing. Since matters were out of our hands at that time, We left with our fellow passengers & were taken to a not so nice hotel, where we were told to have lunch & wait for an update. At around 5 pm, the reception informed us that Kenya Airways had updated them that we were no longer going on the 7 pm flight, but were going to be out on a 3.40 am flight to Nairobi, the next day, January 20th. It would be more 17 hours past our original departure time, but we had no option but to wait it out, as our bags were still at the airport. Somehow, we all made it to 1 am at night, when a bus arrived to take us back to Kigali airport. Upon arrival, we were told that the 3.40 am flight(KQ 479) was delayed till 4.40 am. To make things even more chaotic, our connecting flight to Zanzibar(KQ 490) was also already delayed from 8 am to 11.20 am. I'm writing this as I sit at the airport, hoping to finally get to Zanzibar today. The total flight time from Kigali to Nairobi & Nairobi to Zanzibar is 3 hours or so, and thanks to Kenya Airways, we have already spent 27 hours at the airport & the hotel & we still don't know if we will actually get to Zanzibar today. And if our bags will be on the Zanzibar flight. Time will tell. It's only now that I'm reading all the terrible reviews of Kenya Airways. We experienced the terrible customer service first hand, with agents not having any replies to questions, absolutely no apologies from any staff for the agony caused, and long lines of angry customers at every counter. The horror stories are real. Avoid this airline like the plague, if you value your peace of mind. Anyone can understand one aircraft having "operational issues". But from what we saw and experienced, cancellations, delays, no accountability & no apologies are a daily way of life for Kenya Airways. How can an airline get it so wrong, so many times? Bottom line-run as fast as you can from Kenya airways, you will thank yourself that you did. If you still choose to book with them after reading all these reviews..- well, you were warned.