Kenya Airways

Customer Reviews

3 star Skytrax Rating
Food & Beverages 12345
Inflight Entertainment 12345
Seat Comfort 12345
Staff Service 12345
Value for Money 12345
Customer rating from 456 reviews
4/10
3 star Skytrax Rating
Filter Reviews by :
Show
8/10

"everything went smoothly"

(Australia)

Not Verified | Johannesburg to Zanzibar via Nairobi. We booked our flights in Feb 2018 from CPT to ZNZ, 4 sectors with 12 hours of travel. 2 weeks before we flew we checked our flights and the final sector had been cancelled. With no Kenya Airways office in Australia, I went online and chatted to an agent who quickly solved the issue and rerouted us at the same time reducing 4 sectors to 3. This was all fixed within 10 minutes of chatting. On the day of travel everything went smoothly from to check in to boarding. The flight was uneventful, the service onboard was very good, the flight attendants were lovely. The food and beverages served were also good. The one concern we had was whether or not our bags would arrived at the same time as we did. To our surprise, all bags for our party of 4 arrive at the same time and destination as us. I think we were lucky on the day.
AircraftBoeing 787-8 / ATR72
Type Of TravellerCouple Leisure
Seat TypeEconomy Class
RouteJohannesburg to Zanzibar via Nairobi
Date FlownDecember 2018
Seat Comfort 12345
Cabin Staff Service 12345
Food & Beverages 12345
Inflight Entertainment 12345
Ground Service 12345
Value For Money 12345
yes
1/10

"it's the shame of Africa"

(Canada)

Trip Verified | Nairobi to New York. Awful service, awful staff! Avoid this airline at all cost. Kenya Airways is not the pride of Africa. I'd say it's the shame of Africa. During the flight from USA to Nairobi, (14 hours long) There was a young man speaking really loud and saying inappropriate things. He was disturbing a lot of passengers. Obviously he was drunk, yet he kept ordering alcohol and the staff kept giving him! Despite several complaints from other passengers including myself, the staff of Kenya airways did nothing stop him. My brother and I had a 21 hours in Nairobi. Kenya Airways did not want to pay us a hotel, like they did for other customers. On the way back home, the flight from Nairobi to USA, the staff was again rude and useless. I felt sick and asked for water 5 times before I finally got it. Save yourself a headache and fly with another airline. I wish I read the reviews before spending my money with them. I will never fly with them again even if it was free! Wish I could put 0/10 as overall rating but the system won't let me!
Type Of TravellerFamily Leisure
Seat TypeEconomy Class
RouteNairobi to New York
Date FlownDecember 2018
Seat Comfort 12345
Cabin Staff Service 12345
Food & Beverages 12345
Inflight Entertainment 12345
Ground Service 12345
Wifi & Connectivity 12345
Value For Money 12345
no
1/10

"customer service completely awful"

(United Kingdom)

Not Verified | Our luggage along with everyone else who connected to Nairobi from Kilimanjaro on 15/012/18, did not arrive at Heathrow leaving us without clothes etc for three days. Our bags were returned Tuesday evening, however, were in a completely unacceptable state (both wheels ripped off as well as the handle). We asked for compensation for the damage to the bag and the fact that we've had to buy clothes. The customer service team, however, remained consistently non existent throughout the process (calling over 14 times with no response) and we're yet to hear back regarding our compensation claim three days onward. The flight etc. was fine, just hope that nothing else goes wrong else where as dealing with the customer service at Kenyan Airways has been completely awful.
Type Of TravellerCouple Leisure
Seat TypeEconomy Class
RouteKilamanjaro to London via Nairobi
Date FlownDecember 2018
Seat Comfort 12345
Cabin Staff Service 12345
Food & Beverages 12345
Inflight Entertainment 12345
Ground Service 12345
Wifi & Connectivity 12345
Value For Money 12345
no
3/10

"its literally Shame Of Africa"

(India)

Trip Verified | I am waiting here trying to board the flight from Entebbe to Nairobi. It’s really pathetic that the staff of the handling agent DAS do not inform passengers on checkin that the flight is delayed while delay information is already in google. There is no information updated on the screen and when you approach handling staff for information you have from the google that the flight is delayed they have zero information. When the delay announcement is finally made KQ offers passengers no respite not even a snack voucher for a delay of more than 4 hours. The station manager is nowhere to be seen and since I have already missed my connection they are yet to confirm it they can put me on an alternate flight today until I reach Nairobi! This has happened to me over and over again, I can’t promise I won’t fly back with them again because in this part of Africa this is literally the only option. I will tell you this they call themselves Pride of Africa but its literally Shame Of Africa. I don’t expect anything to change with this review but at least I can warn people what to expect
Type Of TravellerBusiness
Seat TypeEconomy Class
RouteEntebbe to Nairobi
Date FlownOctober 2018
Seat Comfort 12345
Cabin Staff Service 12345
Food & Beverages 12345
Ground Service 12345
Value For Money 12345
no
1/10

"turned into a 24+hr nightmare"

(Tanzania)

Not Verified | My brother was to fly from Johannesburg to Zanzibar but the flight was overbooked and he was scheduled for another flight, hotel stay and voucher included. Next was having to pay $50 for has piece of check-in baggage less than 23kg. Third was demanding he has an affidavit to fly as he had a one way ticket or they wouldn't give him a boarding pass. Lastly now that he is in Zanzibar the luggage he paid for is missing. A simple 6hr journey turned into a 24+hr nightmare. Avoid them they offer very little on ground support and are rude. Avoid. There are better and more value for money options in the African skies nowadays
Type Of TravellerSolo Leisure
Seat TypeEconomy Class
RouteJohannesburg to Zanzibar via Nairobi
Date FlownDecember 2018
Ground Service 12345
Value For Money 12345
no
1/10

"Horrible airline"

(Netherlands)

Not Verified | Amsterdam to Addis Ababa via Nairobi. Horrible airline. Changed my flight significantly for no reason. I did not get any support, help or compensation. On my inbound flight I have to wait 7 hours more on a layover than on my original flight. On my outbound flight it is 24 hours in a country where I cannot escape the airport because I'd need a visa. The 'customer support' does absolutely nothing for you. If you try to cancel they charge cancellation fees (i.e. >300€). Ridiculous! Never book on this airline!
Type Of TravellerSolo Leisure
Seat TypeEconomy Class
RouteAmsterdam to Addis Ababa via Nairobi
Date FlownDecember 2018
Seat Comfort 12345
Cabin Staff Service 12345
Ground Service 12345
Value For Money 12345
no
3/10

"degenerated into a mess"

(United Kingdom)

Trip Verified | London to Zanzibar via Nairobi. This airline has degenerated into a mess. Much talk of its recovery but i am afraid that is not evident. Please expect to have your flight cancelled and you will be put on a new route of their choosing. Expect the transfer counter to be manned buy up to 3 people (but only one actually working). If your flight is not cancelled it will probably be late and you will be lucky to get your bags when you land. When you do get your bags, days later, the list of excuses is endless. You will also find some confusion from Kenya airways who think they are doing you a favor finding the bag they lost.
Type Of TravellerSolo Leisure
Seat TypeEconomy Class
RouteLondon to Zanzibar via Nairobi
Date FlownNovember 2018
Seat Comfort 12345
Cabin Staff Service 12345
Food & Beverages 12345
Inflight Entertainment 12345
Ground Service 12345
Value For Money 12345
no
1/10

"airline can't be trusted"

(Australia)

Trip Verified | Accra to Dar Es Salaam via Nairobi. We were supposed to be picked up from the airport in Dar Es Salaam by our tour guides and taken straight on a 3-day safari. We booked and paid for our flights with Kenya Airways 2 months ago believing Kenya Airways to be a reliable airline. When we arrived 2 hours prior to our flight to check in, we were told that the flight was full. Despite the fact that we had arrived within the requested time to check in and had paid 2 months prior to the flight, we were kicked off the flight. There were multiple other passengers that also were not able to check in because of too many ticket sales - 1 of them had been able to buy a ticket that same morning online despite there obviously not being any left! We purchased our tickets 2 months ago - how were there still tickets on sale the same morning and yet we, who purchased our tickets 2 whole months ago were kicked off the flight?! This is unacceptable!! Another had arrived 2.5 hour prior to departure and had still been kicked off. He had also purchased his tickets much later than we had! We were out in a hotel for the night with boarding passes printed for the next flight in 24 hours but also with the promise by Kenya Airways staff that early the next day they would try to find an alternative flight to get us to Dar Es Salaam earlier. We were already going to miss our airport pickup, who was taking us straight onto a 3-day safari for which I had already paid $300 US for. We were interrupted during breakfast to rush back to the airport. The staff told us we had been booked onto an Ethiopian Airways flight through Addis Ababa but they did not have flight details to supply us with. They cancelled our tickets for the Kenya Airways flight that night. After a long wait in line, the check-in staff found only 1 ticket, rather than 2. They couldn’t tell us arrival time in Dar Es Salaam but checked in our bags and a long time later gave us boarding passes. On checking them, we discovered our route would now include a 26-hour stopover in Addis. Not only were we leaving a day later than our initial flight, but we would be now be arriving 48 hours later - a whole 24 hours later than if we had gone with the later Kenya Airways flight. On showing the staff at Kenya airways what they had swapped us over to, they then told us the Kenya Airways flight that night was already full and we couldn't fly. Seriously, this was ridiculous. We were made to go back to the hotel and brought back to the airport that evening without any communication as to whether we would even be flying. There was no offer of any compensation for the mess made by Kenya airways - no upgrade, not even an airport lounge, no offer of a partial refund, not even an apology. Instead, we had a completely wasted day with massive amounts of stuffing around by Kenya Airways. None of it was due to anything that we did wrong. ALL of it was because they overbook their flights to make extra money. This airline can't be trusted to get you from A to B.
Type Of TravellerFamily Leisure
Seat TypeEconomy Class
RouteAccra to Dar Es Salaam via Nairobi
Date FlownAugust 2018
Seat Comfort 12345
Cabin Staff Service 12345
Food & Beverages 12345
Inflight Entertainment 12345
Ground Service 12345
Value For Money 12345
no
1/10

"stay far away from Kenya Airways"

(United States)

Trip Verified | On July 2, my wife and I were scheduled to fly Nairobi to London on Kenya Airways, then on to the United States on Delta. I am a US citizen and my wife is a Kenyan citizen with a US permanent resident card (aka "green card"). All went smoothly until the agent checking paperwork at the gate immediately prior to boarding denied boarding to my wife based on the idea a transit visa was required in the UK, when in fact no transit visa is needed for our situation. To make matters worse, when my wife returned to the ticket counter for further assistance (as instructed by the gate agent), she was told there was nothing they could do for her and that she would need to purchase an entirely new ticket. She purchased a one way ticket on another airline for a sizable sum. Of course I immediately filed a complaint with Kenya Airways and insisted on reimbursement. After numerous inquiries into the status of my complaint, and being told an investigation was ongoing, I finally received an email on October 4 in which Kenya Airways admitted the situation was entirely their fault. They offered what amounted to only 20% of the cost of her ticket for compensation. After several more emails back and forth, I've concluded they will never make things right and accepted their offer. It's impossible to argue with an airline headquartered in a developing country with no real consequences for appalling customer service. Their 787 aircraft are nice, but I would stay far away from Kenya Airways. You never know what sort of shenanigans they will pull and there is no way to hold them accountable after the fact.
AircraftBoeing 787
Type Of TravellerCouple Leisure
Seat TypeEconomy Class
RouteNairobi to London
Date FlownJuly 2018
Seat Comfort 12345
Cabin Staff Service 12345
Food & Beverages 12345
Inflight Entertainment 12345
Ground Service 12345
Value For Money 12345
no
2/10

"staff were very unhelpful"

(South Africa)

Trip Verified | On the 10th July we were returning from Cairo to Johannesburg via Nairobi. Flight from Nairobi to Johannesburg was delayed and this resulted in additional costs been incurred by my family. The airline staff were very unhelpful and not interested in the implications caused for us caused by the delay resulting in the subsequent missing of our connecting flight to Port Elizabeth from Johannesburg. The representative merely stated that there was nothing he could do and that we had no recourse since the flight to Port Elizabeth was on a separate ticket and Kenya Airways contractual obligations ended in JHB. At the airport in Nairobi while we were seated on the plane it emerged that the pilot had not arrived for work, in the end Kenya Airways asked a pilot from another airline to fly the plane.
AircraftBoeing 787
Type Of TravellerBusiness
Seat TypeEconomy Class
RouteNairobi to Johannesburg
Date FlownJuly 2018
Seat Comfort 12345
Cabin Staff Service 12345
Food & Beverages 12345
Inflight Entertainment 12345
Ground Service 12345
Value For Money 12345
no