KENYA AIRWAYS   Customer Reviews and Passenger Trip Reports

KENYA AIRWAYS customer review :  15 November 2009 by Nadine Fernandez   (France)

Paris to Nairobi return, traveling with a 7 year old child: never again with this company. In both flight, the crew made clear that you were not welcome (no smile, rude and impolite), no blankets unless you get them yourself, screen poorly working, first meal served late after departure and the second far too early before arrival. No drink proposed between meals and nothing at disposal not even water and they picked up the headset and blanket back 1 hr before arrival! This was nothing compared to the nightmare in the airport: before departure when checking for the flight I realized that the return did not exist anymore and when I called FlyingBlue they said that it has been cancelled (without any warning!) - they then proposed to us another flight with a stop at Douala. The day of return at the moment of boarding when we asked for the confirmation of the gate they said that the flight has been cancelled, 5 min before boarding - again no warning. After a long stand in the queue at the transit desk, they said they transfer us on the next flight to Paris the next day without even checking if there were seats available on the flights leaving in the next hours for Amsterdam or London - they also said that there was no room in the hotels so we should stay the all night at the airport without dinner. 6 hours later after a long and exhausting wait and fight they finally gave us back our luggage (after having to go through visa desk again, long standing in the queue again) and put us in a shuttle for an hotel (it was nearly 1 o'clock in the morning). At the hotel they transfered us to another hotel in a very bad part of Nairobi, the hotel was dirty and noisy - it was impossible to sleep and of course the shuttle supposed to pick us up at 7am never showed up, so we had to pay a taxi to go back to the airport to find out that the flight was 3 hrs delayed!

KENYA AIRWAYS customer review :  10 November 2009 by E Conder   (Australia)

Johannesburg to Nairobi in economy with Kenya Airways, and then Nairobi Johannesburg in business. Economy class was better than Qantas, hot meal served at midnight (our departure time from Johannesburg). Food was good and wine provided. All seats had a pillow and blanket. Staff were pleasant but not particularly warm. Plane was new and clean. Nairobi Airport basic but acceptable - not somewhere to spend any time unless you have to. The Kenya Airways business lounge is way too small, poorly served by its staff and unacceptable. Nairobi to Johannesburg in business class. Excellent, comfortable seats, great food and wine. Again service was polite and attentive without being at all warm.

KENYA AIRWAYS customer review :  24 October 2009 by V Morton   (UK)

London-Nairobi-Mombassa, return Mombasa-Nairobi-Amsterdam. All Kenya Airways flights were on time, staff were friendly and helpful, food was standard airline fare.

KENYA AIRWAYS customer review :  19 October 2009 by Peter Hupka   (Slovakia)

Nairobi-Amsterdam. After continental breakfast we did not get any food nor drinks (except tee/coffee) for next 5 hours. Cabin cold and no blanket. Cabin entertainment poor (B767 instead of 777-200). Pride of Africa no more.

KENYA AIRWAYS customer review :  10 October 2009 by Thomas Yebei   (Kenya)

Nairobi-Lagos. The flight was not full on new B777-200ER. The meals were superb and excellent staff. However we were delayed for two hours at JKIA with usual excuse of a mechanical problem. What spoilt the flight was screen not working, few choices of music and some scrubby dull blankets handed out by staff on board.

KENYA AIRWAYS customer review :  8 October 2009 by N Frank   (USA)

LHR-NBO-JNB economy. A clean and modern 777, however large segments of plane had no working IFE or overhead lights. Flight Attendants seemed upset and reset the system multiple times, however nothing worked. The meals were fine for Y, legroom tight but adequate - flight attendants neither cold nor particularly warm. The ground scene in NBO is a bit chaotic but better organized than I expected. The airport itself is charmless but tolerable for a few hours. Depending on the alternatives, I would fly them again.

KENYA AIRWAYS customer review :  24 September 2009 by C Vandermeulen   (Senegal)

Dakar-Nairobi-Dubai. Why on earth an old and slow 737 is used for this flight from Dakar to Nairobi remains a mystery. Cramped seats, reclining yes but not flat, no breakfast served after a night flight. The 5 hour flight to Dubai much better in a 777, at least the plane is recent and the business seats are real business seats. Obviously now the screen didn't work. Return much of the same, and again horrible 10-hour flight from Nairobi to Dakar in this old and slow 737. Pride of Africa ?

KENYA AIRWAYS customer review :  19 September 2009 by C Rowntree   (UK)

I had the misfortune of four flights with Kenya airways. Tthe flight to Kenya for three out of six in our party was fairly comfortable, however for the other three had to suffer 8.5hrs without a TV and cabin crew were so rude! The flight was not full and they could have been moved but the staff point blank refused to assist. During all four flights not one member of the cabin crew smiled. They spoke and looked at you as though you were an inconvenience. I sustained a fracture to my foot two days prior to travelling home and was assured I would have extra leg room to elevate my leg - this was not to be. When checking in the attendant advised they had given me a window seat - how this helps to elevate I am still not sure. The real fun began when we were boarding for the journey home from Mombassa to England. Once again they wanted me to sit by the window and the staff could not perceive a problem with my mum holding my leg. We raised our opinions about the appalling service we had received on every flight with Kenya airways and suprisingly there was a seat at the front of the plane with extra legroom - when we had been told the plane was fully booked. I have never been on a flight before when the cabin crew has been so rude and dismissive. The food was average, entertainment would have been good had my TV decided to work properly as opposed to freezing every 20 minutes.

KENYA AIRWAYS customer review : 2 August 2009 by Hilde Jakobsen

Customer Rating : 1/5

Having partly grown up in Kenya, I've felt a certain loyalty to Kenya Airways for some years. So when booking with KLM, I have often opted for the codeshare flights that say 'operated by KQ' when flying for example from Europe to Nairobi or Dar. However between May and August 2009 I flew a total of 10 flights with them, and have vowed never to fly them again. All these flights showed the same consistent signs of staff not caring about their customers. Everything from leaving the entire cabin of passengers with their meal trays on their laps for 4 hours, whilst the stewardesses filed their nails, to refusing to issue paid-for tickets, to not respecting Flying Blue guarantees. At one point I was stranded in Abidjan with my original return booking cancelled, being told there were no seats for another month, all because of some petty fight between the Abidjan and the Nairobi KQ offices. So my goodwill is all gone now.

KENYA AIRWAYS customer review : 5 May 2009 : by J Schoenmakers

Customer Rating : 3/5

KQ101 to Nairobi and KQ102 from Nairobi back to London. Flight out was full, good cabin service, was looking forward to the inflight movies, but my screen did not work. Same on the way back! (had 3 seats to myself) but screens not working.

KENYA AIRWAYS customer review : 6 April 2009 : by G Mccourt

Customer Rating : 1/5

London to Dar, the flight out was great an 1 hour in Nairobi but on the way back KQ really let themselves down. Arrived in Nairobi on Sunday at 8.20pm expecting to leave at 11.45. Finally arrived back in London Sunday at 4.30pm! KQ kept telling us there was on hour delay, then at 2.30am told us the flight was cancelled until 7.40am on Sunday morning. KQ refused to put us up in hotels, as all hotels were full, did not provide food, water only at 4am after a major hassle. Management only very junior staff were available who had no authority, yet had to face a 200 odd angry customers. At no point did a manager appear come and explain, it was appalling! No communication as to what was happening, constantly told "just wait". No communication between those who are responsible for the airport itself (all water is switched off after midnight- no toilets etc), Nairobi airport services, who eventually at 5.30am turned up with 8 packets of sandwiches, claiming KQ had not told them the numbers of passengers. No one wanted take responsibility and deal the various problems that arose as a result of the delay. many passengers missed connecting flights to the US and within Europe.

KENYA AIRWAYS customer review : 10 March 2009 : by G Warren

Customer Rating : 1/5

Heathrow to Nairobi - it departed 5 hours late, they said they were waiting for a part to arrive, they gave us a GBP5 voucher to buy a meal [GBP5 doesn't buy you much at Heathrow]. The screens did not work so we had 8 hours with nothing to do. On the return journey KQ102 we were late taking off - the co-pilot had not arrived. The screens did not work so we had no films on the return journey as well, we thought we would get a book out and have a read unfortunately the overhead lights did not work, so we had to sit for another 8 hours with nothing to do. I don't think we will be travelling with Kenya airways again.

KENYA AIRWAYS customer review : 23 February 2009 : by Anders Pedersen

Customer Rating : 4/5

DAR-NBO-DAR Business class. Without rebooking, the check-in manager allowed me in airport to leave on a 4 hour earlier flight to be sure to catch up with the long haul flight in NBO. I was enjoying the new lounge in Dar and the 2 in NBO-airport. Long-haul flights have best seats, and are truly Business class. Just tampered by filling it fully up with passengers from economy, upgraded after gates closed - making the cabin full and a bit crowded. Wines are few, but well selected. Good food, nice service, nice chairs. Frequent flyer miles prompptly granted.

KENYA AIRWAYS customer review : 16 February 2009 : by A Majumdar

Customer Rating : 4/5

BOM-NBO-LUN in economy. The departure was late by half an hour. Very good service with smiling and friendly cabin crew. The food was above average and timings perfectly maintained. In- flight entertainment was decent.

KENYA AIRWAYS customer review : 1 February 2009 : by D Voss

Customer Rating : 1/5

3 flights with Kenya airways in one month, all problems or disasters. Travelled business class BKK to NBO and on to DAR, flight on time, no IFE at all, the PTV's probably stopped working years ago, no other movie on the front screen or sound on music channels, although they did hand out headphones? Dinner was very poor, breakfast acceptable. Our 3 seats worked, although others didn't. They lost the luggage in Nairobi airport, which is not a surprise when you see the mountains of bags in all corners of the arrival hall. Amazingly the luggage did turn up 2 days later. ZNZ to NBO economy. arrived at airport at noon for the 1 hour flight departing 2.45pm. Plane had technical difficulties and departed at 8.00pm. this seemed to be a normal occurrence as they called it only a "slight delay". Kenya Airways saved the best for last NBO to HKG business class. Arrived at counter, and check in clerk got on the phone for 10-15mins to someone who didn't answer - she then told us our seats were not available and to go over to the supervisors office. After further waiting, we were told they had upgraded other people and by this time this had played out only 2 seats were left on the flight - for the 3 we had booked. They could offer no alternative other than to go to the ticket office to sort this out. It was now about 50mins before departure. The ticket office could do nothing for us except book on another flight at midnight the next day, and only if we paid a rebooking fee - there was no second option if we didn't pay I guess she would just do nothing!. Then they could offer no accommodation without us having to run around various offices arguing the case. which is not that easy when everyone puts up the I don't understand what you want defence, and walking around anywhere in Nairobi is a security problem with your belongings and our son in tow. The flight we rebooked did leave on time, and was of a little better standard than our first flight due to efficient FA's, but the whole experience was very poorly handled leaving us out of pocket for all our reorganized connecting flights, accom, and extras. We would not advise any travel with Kenya Airways, the first two experiences we had were somewhat expected when travelling through Africa, but our last flight given their absolute disregard of the customer shows an airline on a path down to the bottom of the pile and one you only travel as the last option.

KENYA AIRWAYS customer review : 28 January 2009 : by D Authers

Customer Rating : 3/5

Dubai to Johannesburg. DXB checkin chaotic, but eventually was pulled out of the line because I had limited luggage and helped. Flight 4 hours late, so missed connection in Nairobi to JNB. Staff efficiently transferred me to departing Emirates flight to Joburg. JNB-NBO on Kenya Airways very comfortable, good service on new plane. NBO-DXB delayed by 4 hours. NBO airport is terrible. Arrived exhausted, and disappointed. Overall average service for good prices, but delays are just not worth the saving

KENYA AIRWAYS customer review : 25 January 2009 : by Fred Hodgson

Customer Rating : 4/5

AMS-NBO and on to EBB. both were fine and reflected well against the KLM return from EBB-AMS. Departure was on time and the plane clean and comfortable. FAs were well above the plastic grins of some other airlines. These were willing "African smiles." Service was very good and friendly. Food was well above average too. NBO on 737 was interesting where you wander the Apron heading for several 737s and hope you actually get on the correct one. We did and it was fine and pleasant. Definitely using them again.

KENYA AIRWAYS customer review : 15 January 2009 : by J Onwuka

Customer Rating : 4/5

London - Nairobi - Lagos (took KLM return from Lagos). Check-in efficient and easy. I found seating comfortable though they had to re-start the entertainment system twice. The music option was very good and they had a few current movies. Staff were attentive, polite and friendly. Food was to my liking. On arrival in Nairobi, they were quite good at directing me to the correct departure area for my Lagos flight though it was probably a bit tight, that layover. The terminal wasn't new or beautiful (nor was the plane, come to think of it) but it was clean and toilets were clean. They should think of offering ground transportation in Lagos to the domestic terminal. The price for the transfer via taxi is extortionate (N1000) and Virgin offer a free transfer service for its passengers (but to be fair, only when it feels like it).

KENYA AIRWAYS customer review : 13 January 2009 : by A Ortega

Customer Rating : 1/5

Traveling with KQ from Khartoum to Cape Town. The plane from Cairo came 6 hours late in our inbound trip and obliged us to spend a sleepless night and then stay more than one day in Nairobi with my wife, one small child and a baby as we lost the connection. Apart from losing one day of our holiday and the need to call hotels, car rent office, etc and the financial loss involved, we had to go through the exhausting row of inefficient services after a long sleepless night - clearly inadequate transit desk run by stressed staff, absolutely insufficient looking at the endless queue waiting to be served, then paying the Kenyan visa, another wait at the KQ hotel service desk, picking-up our bulky luggage as we needed our children stuff, then last queue waiting for the overcrowded KQ hotel van. A last surprise awaited us for the return as our boarding passes from Cape Town to Johannesburg were not there because it was with BA (inside the KQ ticket) and KQ seemed to have not reported about the change of date in the inbound trip, cancelling our reservation. Apart from the 50 minutes stand-by at the desk for this, our seats from Johannesburg to Nairobi and from there back to Khartoum were never together due to overbooking. At the end, at least we managed to return home (this is our highest expectation so far from KQ, just to be able to move and to return). Unfortunately we have no alternative company from Khartoum if we want to travel to sub- Saharan Africa. In the KQ magazine they present the brand new KQ management team, which I hope will be able to change things, and whatever change they try, believe me, will be for the better.