Kenya Airways

✅ Verified Review | Nairobi to Gaborone return. Kenya Airways and their cost cutting measures are really showing inflight and in their flagship Lounge at NBO. Onboard what used to be a 4 course dinner service is now 3 courses, with a very mediocre salad starter, choice of 3 mains but all over cooked and tasteless, and then a mousse like dessert. No fruit, no cheese and no red wine. Ran out of champagne half way through the flight. The business class seats on Embraer 190 have no leg rest, and very poor recline. No amenity kit, so no eye mask to keep out the blaring cabin lights, or ear plugs to drown out the sound of the cabin crew. Really wish they would return to their glorious days when one would be proud to fly KQ.

I was supposed to fly Kenya Airways out of Nairobi to Entebbe at 3.30 pm. I get to the airport at 1pm and am told that my flight is overbooked and I will fly out at 7.45 pm. In this way I would have missed an extremely important event in Kampala. I asked why I wasn't informed before and no one explained. The ground staff was extremely rude, no sorry, no explanation, not half a smile, no one could care less and they never bothered to send me an email or inform me. I asked for some sort of compensation and was denied until after complaining for 3 hours straight (when I received 50 dollars out of my 180$ ticket). I asked to talk to a manager and was sent to 4 different offices where no one could give me any sort of information. No wifi was available but when I asked for crew to hotspot me everyone refused so I had no way of contacting people in Kampala. It was the worst customer service experiences I have had. I finally go to board my 7.45pm flight only to discover it has been delayed by one hour.

For such a short Kenya Airways 45 minute flight from Mombasa to Nairobi, the crew managed to get round whole plane with drink and snack of nuts. Arrived early in Nairobi this caused a problem with bus to take us to terminal 10 min wait. Crew were very good. Luggage being delivered by the time we reached the terminal.

I have flown with Kenya Airways before and would describe them as being cheap and cheerful with slightly above average service. Flights to Johannesburg were on time however they ran out of meal choices and we were left with a rather disgusting fish affair. I had chosen Kenya Airways primarily because of their generous baggage allowance ie 2 x 23kg bags as we were bringing sports equipment and motorcycle gear on our holiday. All went reasonably well even given the poor meals on the outbound flight however coming back was a different matter. When we arrived at Johannesburg Airport we were faced with a huge set of scales placed in front of the check in counter that also had its own usual scales. We had to have our bags weighed and the very over officious clerk refused to take my bags as one was 3kg overweight never mind the fact that my other bag was 4kg under weight. I would have understood the concerns if the total of my bags were overweight but they weren't and despite my appeals for a more common sense approach and despite my bags being identically packed to the outward journey (where they were checked in at Heathrow with no problem) I had to repack my luggage on the check in floor. This in my view is a totally ridiculous rule that appears to only be applied at Johannesburg (I have flown Kenya Airways from London, Mombasa and Nairobi on several occasions without any inconvenience). On the flight to Nairobi they again ran out of food choices and we were served by a very rude steward who just slammed the food if you can call it that down in front of us. When we arrived in Nairobi they were bussing those ending their journey there to the terminal but there were no directions for those transitting, we managed to find an emergency exit and took that and were lucky to find a very impatient Kenya Airways employee who directed us to cross a busy airport road in the dark. There was no pedestrian crossing markings and she had no high vis gear on, we were lucky not to get run down by a bus that came around the corner suddenly. The onward flight to Heathrow passed without further incident however the breakfast served was appalling, a piece of unidentifiable gristle in the dish, truly the worst meal I have ever been served in over 50 years of flying. Kenya Airways standards on this showing have definitely slipped to well below par and they need to take note.

Flew from London Heathrow to Entebbe via Nairobi. Arrived early for check-in but then had to wait because one of the desks was being occupied by a family who were not travelling business but seemed to be negotiating over buying another ticket. I had booked both tickets and had selected adjoining seats but by the time we had checked in these have been changed. Even though I had paid for the tickets, I was told that I could not be told whether my travelling companion was still sitting next to me – data protection etc. in fact he had been put elsewhere. It was only at the gate that we managed to correct the problem. The aircraft was a newish Boeing 787 Dreamliner and although Kenya Airways had not opted for a more modern seat configuration, it was a relatively comfortable. A slightly larger pillow would have been appreciated. My IFE was not working (photo) although given that I wanted to sleep I was not particularly worried. The cabin crew apologised for not having a printed menu and instead let the passengers look at what appeared to be an email with the food options. The wine was uninspiring and the food lacklustre. However, the cabin crew were excellent: some of them had a slightly mischievous sense of humour, smiling and responded quickly to requests. Arriving at Nairobi was a disaster. First, the aircraft had to be towed in because of construction work and we were then put on a bus and taken to the arrivals terminal. There were no signs for transit passengers and when we asked, we were told that we had arrived at the wrong place. Needless to say nobody bothered to tell us. We then went on another bus and after an absurdly long wait finally got through security. The business lounge in Nairobi was small and we were forced to share a table. We decided to leave early and, eventually, the next flight, to Entebbe, was called. Absolutely no priority was given to business passengers. Although there was a separate line, passengers simply joined whichever was the shortest and the staff did nothing to ensure that those who had paid a premium were given priority treatment. We realise that running an airline involves juggling numerous different priorities and not every airline can aspire to the standards of Emirates or Qatar Airways, but with a little effort, and a negligible cost, Kenya Airways could have done considerably better than this.

Kenya Airways from Johannesburg to Dar Es Salaam via Nairobi and back. B737-800 and Embraer 190 - all flights departed on time and all arrived earlier at destinations. Service from FA's could not be faulted - food was ok not wow but standard for airline economy meals. Going to Dar Es Salaam stopped in Nairobi for few days but on return was in transit in Nairobi for Johannesburg. Time allowed was 55 minutes from arriving from DAR departing to JNB and this was ample for the transfer whicH was smooth and painless. Flight back to JNB was half full and I was moved to the exit seat so very comfortable. All in all quite impressed with Kenya Airways will use them again gladly.

Nairobi to Bangkok with Kenya Airways. Good Boeing 787 with lay flat seats. Nice crew, food and beverages and IFE was so so. Great lounge with plenty space and nice showers. Price was very competitive and I will fly with Kenya Airways again.

London Heathrow to Johannesburg via Nairobi with Kenya Airways. Almost new planes with very comfortable seats and plenty of space. The staff were fine and friendly. On demand entertainment. Meals were average but acceptable. None of our four flights were late. At a bargain price, pleasantly surprised and would happily use again.

Kenya Airways flight KQ584 from Ndola to Kenya on the 23rd December 2015 was the worst flight I've been on. The toilet seat was broken., very unhygienic to make matters worse the flight was full. On my way back on KQ101 on 24th January 2016 from London Heathrow, no wine or lager was served. I don't drink but a lot of people complained. Its only right for us to be told when we buy our tickets that certain things have been withdrawn. Ive been flying Kenya Airways for a long time but I wonder if I will be using it in March when I go back to the UK.

Johannesburg to London via Nairobi, and the flight was overbooked. When we left London we were told that our luggage was 2pcs x 23 kg and can be combined as were travelling with my partner. However on return we were refused checking in Johannesburg because we had one piece each weighing 25kg each. Trying to explain the simply mathematics to staff was a challenge. We had to unwrap our luggage and repack it, give away some of our clothes and re-wrap the suitcases with seal film as luggage often gets broken into. This cost us extra money and had to pay the difference when we did not need to. Very rude, unprofessional, arrogant and self importance. I don't think I'll be flying Kenya Airways any time soon.