Kenya Airways

✅ Trip Verified | A complete disappointment from start to finish. Delays can happen, but they should be communicated properly. The 45 min delay turned out to be over 2 hours. Cabin was untidy and dirty when joining the flight, which originated in Guangzhou, in Bangkok. The seat was spacious but lacked any privacy dividers or hoods, leaving one exposed to the frequent foot traffic walking up and down the cabin all night. Inflight catering in 'Premier World' was mediocre. No menu was handed to passengers. A cold chicken pie and some 'vegetarian' snack was offered alongside a small chocolate cake after take-off for this 8h30 overnight flight. No appetizer, no salad, no option of a warm meal, just some basic finger food. The crew had to be reminded to hand out the amenity kits which contain eyeshades, socks ear plugs, a pen and toothbrush. Cabin lights were dimmed but the crew didn't bother to close the curtains between the galley at the second door and the cabin, leaving the front section bright and uncomfortable. Landing in Nairobi was 1 hr 20 minutes behind schedule, ground staff made little effort to accommodate connecting passengers who missed their connection. Overall an underwhelming experience. For the same (or lower) price I would rather take in the 2 hour or so connection timw in Doha, Dubai or Abu Dhabi and fly with an airline which takes onboard service and passenger comfort seriously.

✅ Trip Verified | Entebbe to Mumbai via Nairobi connecting on Jet Airways to Colombo. The ground staff was acting completely arbitrarily, and each of them had different rules. Our main problem with Kenya Airways was not on board, but with the ground staff. My husband (Ugandan) and I (German) were booked on a flight to Colombo in Sri Lanka. It was a one-way ticket. Since the Sri Lankan Visa is only for 30 days, I had another flight booked with Malaysian Airlines to Cambodia within that period. My husband and I both had E-Visas for Sri Lanka. So when we came to Entebbe Airport, the Kenya Airways Lady at the Check-In counter didn't let us board the airplane. She claimed, that Ugandan citizens weren't allowed to go to Sri Lanka on an E-Visa (Our E-Visa was already granted and even certified by the Sri Lankan Embassy in Kampala). Also, she said that we had to have a flight from Sri Lanka back to our home countries and she couldn't let us go there on a one-way ticket. When I told her about our outbound flight with Malaysian, she said that there is "a rule, that every person has to return to their home countries within one year", so we had to show her a ticket back to our home countries, otherwhise she wouldn't check us in. As I said, she was acting totally arbitrarily. Unbelievable. So in the end I had to book a flight for each of us back to our home countries (which I of cause cancelled immediatly once arrived in Colombo). I did it right there and then at the airport, but she still had the opinion that our E-Visas weren't ok, so we missed the flight. Then, the lady took us to the Kenya Airways office at the airport and looked for another flight for us. But since "it was our mistake" that we missed it, we had to pay for the change fees. She then told us to go to the Sri Lankan High Comission in Kampala the next morning and apply for the normal visa. In general this lady was very rude, when I tried to explain to her that our E-Visas were already approved etc, she told me to shut up and that she was tired of dealing with people like us. So when we went to the embassy, we talked to the ambassador personally and he was completely shocked that they wouldn't let us board the airplane, since Ugandan citizens can go to Sri Lanka on an E-Visa and ours was already approved. He gave us his personal number, so that we could call im in case we would have any problems again. The next day the Check-In lady wasn't there and we had no problems to board the airplane, even though our visa was still the same and no one asked us for return tickets to our home countries. When I sent a customer complaint to the Kenya Airways Customer Service, they answered me that they received it and would forward it to someone from the Customer Service team. But after that, I didn't receive a reply for 1 month. So just recently I e-mailed them again, saying that I am still waiting for a reply, but nothing happend. I am deeply disappointed. This was my first experience with Kenya Airways, and it was the worst thing that ever happened to me in terms of flying. Never ever did I experience something like that with any other airline. I lost a lot of money and I didn't even receive an apologetic message from them, not even talking about compensation for the inconvenience. I would never recommend this airline to anyone! Don't fly with Kenya Airways if you don't want to have incidents like this, just save your time, money and energy and fly with other airlines like Qatar or Emirates.

✅ Trip Verified | Nairobi to Kisumu. Domestic Kenya Airways is surprisingly good. (I figured out the reason why. Big shots travel these routes together with tourists, so these are the folks that can cause trouble for management if it is not together). Service, check in, Safari Lounge, snacks/drinks are served on very short haul flights. Seamless check in service with Delta Airlines Elite Medallion Members is a excellent service Kenya Airways offers. On odd thing is: If you are connecting in Nairobi to a domestic destination, you have to exit the domestic area, then recheck everything again for your onwards domestic connection which adds to the hassle

✅ Trip Verified | Nairobi to Amsterdam. The flight and boarding process for Kenya Airways was seamless. Being a Platinum member, Kenya Airways is very good at recognizing status, even at the Safari Lounge. I admit the new terminal gates are rather confusing in numbering. However, the meals, etc were acceptable. Flight attendants were good too. While not at the standards of the Game Lodges and many restaurants in the country in terms of wait service, they were fine. The big issue with me was the seats, they were extremely uncomfortable in Economy. Even with a neck pillow, the seats were hard and cramped. This will become a challenge for passengers on their soon to start non-stop to New York, sitting 15.5 hours on these seats would not be something I would do. Would rather prefer the connection An odd thing happened when we arrived at Amsterdam, The flight was met by armed Dutch State Police going through Kenyan Passports with microscopes, a testament to how useless the Kenya Passports are nowadays due to the rampant corruption from Kenyan Immigration.

✅ Trip Verified | London Heathrow to Nairobi. I rang Kenya Airways Office in London at about 8 pm to book a ticket for my 15 year old daughter to travel to Nairobi. The lady told me they don't take payment by phone. She needed to fax me a form to complete and return with Bank details. I told her I have never seen a Facsimile machine for over 15 years. She said she could not help if I had no access to fax machine. I rang 30 minutes later and a man answered. Quoted me a little lower price (for the same travel days) and was ready to take payment on phone and do the reservation. I told him I will call in ten minutes since I did not have my card ready. After 10 minutes another lady answered and quoted me a fare £200 higher. When I mentioned that I had been quoted a different fare just a few minutes before and wanted to speak to the guy, she said she did not know where he was. I rang first thing the following day and another lady did the booking by phone within a few minutes at a much lower fare without haggling. The issue of fax machine did not arise, and I wondered if each person on shift had their own rules. I am aware fare prices change but how they fluctuate upwards and downwards within minutes by margins of over £200 for the same day/time of travel is unbelivable.

✅ Trip Verified | I will never fly with Kenya Airways again! Or a heads up for anyone who is daft enough to fly Kenya Airways. They call themselves the Pride of Africa! I would like to challenge that and say they are the hustlers of Africa. They have left me stranded in Kenya with half my family on the flight and put a suspension on the last leg of my flight due to me missing one leg of my domestic internal flights. Even though I have fairly paid for all my seats on all the connecting flights. Speaking of the unhelpful customer services. I spent 30 mins on the phone, only to be placed on hold and eventually cut off with the issue unresolved. I then decided to go to the main office in Nairobi in hopes that something could be appeased only to find out that my only option is to book a new flight. My primary advice would be, never to fly with Kenya Airways, they have such nonsensical and unfair policies. If you are forced to fly Kenya Airways remember to take all your connecting flights and if you miss it for any unfortunate circumstance notify the airlines.

✅ Trip Verified | Mombasa to Guangzhou via Nairobi. The Boeing 787 is a must try service on long range routes and they have great inflight service. I only got confused at the number of times cabin crew changed but still great, good food, great sleeper seat. I would fly again. Only let down ground crew especially in Guangzhou and Mombasa, difficult people.

✅ Trip Verified | We arrived in Dubai and searched for our baggage for 2 hours, got sent from pillar to post until we were eventually sent to the baggage claims dept, only to be told there wasn’t enough time to put our baggage, 4 suitcases, on the plane in Nairobi, so it was left behind, but it would arrive the following day at 1.30 am, 20 hours later! The result, one whole day wasted. At departure in Cape Town we were told they had no fragile stickers, my husband and I were put in separate seating areas, despite purchasing the tickets simultaneously, using one card. they managed to sort that out as we boarded.The plane was old and dirty too! The mistake and lack of acknowledgement is 930 AED and 20 hours wasted. Eventually we got hold of the Kenya Airways office at Dubai airport, who organized with Emirates to bring our suitcases with their next flight which lands at 10.30 tonight, so here we wait! I will never recommend Kenya to any of our expat friends who travel this flight on a regular basis.

✅ Trip Verified | Dakar to Johannesburg via Nairobi. A colleague and I were booked to travel from Dakar to Nairobi and from Nairobi to Johannesburg. The point of taking this route was to get to Johannesburg before noon on Saturday 9th in order to attend to other commitments there. Kenya Airways seemed the most convenient for our requirements, there was a two hour plus gap between the scheduled arrival time of KQ513 and the departure time of KQ760 - so none of us could have imagined the nightmare that awaited us at the Kenya Airways hub in Nairobi! Due to a 2hour 15 minute (or longer) delay of the departure of KQ513 from Dakar, we barely made it on time for our connecting flight. There was no ground staff available to assist us get to the connecting flight. The ground staff at the gate were quick to gleefully tell us that we had been off-loaded from flight KQ760 to Johannesburg. They were there to block not to facilitate passengers. Following desperate pleas, they decided to board the business class passengers and not economy class - thus separating my colleague and I. When I pleaded on my colleague's behalf I was told that not enough meals were loaded into the economy class cabin! If passengers are late due to a Kenyan Airways delay (and no fault of their own) ground staff should meet the passengers and escort them to the connecting flight if it is still on the ground. In the event that the flight is over-booked tell passengers the truth than use an excuse as pathetic as the one that was given by ground staff.

✅ Trip Verified | Johannesburg to Addis Ababa via Nairobi. Upon arrival in Addis Ababa, I collected my suitcase - only to find that it had been terribly damaged. What’s more is that I paid extra to have the bag wrapped in South Africa. I immediately went to the baggage help desk, where I was given a reference number and told that I would be contacted. For the entire stay in Ethiopia, I was not contacted by Kenya Airways. When I returned to South Africa, I emailed the airline asking for an update. I was referred to someone else and have still not been helped! Truly disappointed in this bad service.