Rwandair

✅ Trip Verified | Delay after delay after delay - every time. Waste a whole day with them . Madly expensive airport that insists on full security screen removing water and lighters even if you’re transiting and purchased after security in a main hub airport

✅ Trip Verified | Flew direct from Paris to Kigali New Years evening 2024 on A330-200. Change of terminal in Paris can take 1-2 hours; best is to leave the transit and use the trains. Rwandair has only 13 aircraft and only two airline partners, thus potentially things can go wrong. Luggage transfers are often not accepted by other airlines. Check-in in T1 went smooth, though the lady was not experienced neither knowing aircraft type nor terminal well. I have a goldcard with this airline which gave access to the very nice Extime contract Lounge in T1. Despite that the flight was 75% full, I managed at boarding, to get 3 seats for myself and could recline and stretch out. Catering faultless, my preordered special meal was quite good. Drinks given generously at all times. Wines were acceptable. Headsets, pillows, and blankets given to everybody. IFE was working well and choices were sufficient. In the morning a modest breakfast was served without any hot drinks; these could be obtained in galley. Staff were humble, polite, well groomed, and in general very active. On time, all luggage handled well. Cheap, promotional ticket bought 8 months prior to travel. Recommend.

✅ Trip Verified |   Kigali-Paris 10th Dec. 2024 on one of their 3 A330 aircrafts. Checked in online smooth, but is unnecessary and does neither add value nor gain time. I chose an entire seat-row for free due to my Gold Status with Rwandair’s Dream Miles Program. Marburg declarations forms have to be filled prior to enter the airport. Check-in slow, 20 minutes per pax, but they managed to check-in luggage onwards with other airline. Dream lounge in Kigali is a pleasure with panorama windows over town. Catering options varied, a bit sparse; the best hot snacks appear not to reach the lounge easily, only on firm request. I suspect, that they are consumed by lounge staff, have seen indications hereof. Wines are subpar. No sparkling wine offered. Flight on time; 30% full; on time. Seafood meal preordered and given. Generous catering. They gave me, on early request, an entire row onboard for better sleep. Blankets, ear-set, and pillows given. Very affordable ticket (425 USD t/r) purchased 6 months before departure. Extremely good value for money. Miles given.

Not Verified | Disappointing, delayed Kigali to London by 11 hours thus losing London train fares. Not refundable. No offer of meals, accomodation no response to e mails. Eventually responded with vague promise of accommodation. Seem to happen often

✅ Trip Verified | Flew Kigali to Nairobi for 1st leg of a trip to the US in mid October 2024, aircraft was an extremely old and worn-out Dash-8 aircraft, hardly airworthy. About everything went wrong as their multiple added delays and postponements costing us 5 hours. The issue started from 2 weeks before with a 1st postponement and reschedule by Rwandair. I realised a hastily shrinking, narrow timeslot in Nairobi could cause me missing onward flights so asked them to travel ½-1 day earlier to avoid trouble. They refused to prepone and claimed that 70 minutes transfer time was sufficient. On a further announced delay, they then forgot to adjust arrival time; de facto leaving me with only 10 minutes for transit before final, unannounced added delay. Rwandair resumed no responsibility and in airport they refused my request to rebook me to their direct flight Kigali to Paris as my routing to the US would pass Paris anyway. Thus, I lost 2 days stranded in Nairobi. On the positive side: luggage checked in to final destinations despite not all legs were with the airline. Access to their Dream lounge granted in Kigali; the lounge is fine, but it appears lounge staff eat most of the hot snacks meant for passengers. Onboard, FAs and services are fine, my special hot-meal accommodated, drinks were plenty. The interior of aircraft was very worn, tapes padding, patches, scratches, and everything appeared shaky. Worst was the incredible noise from the propels and engine, making it a very shaky, nightmare-like flight. A last minute, new delay was said the be replacement of a spare-part, not very comforting. Could not hear announcements. The airline suffers from lack of airline partners and lack of aircrafts. The new airport being built in Bugesera seems superfluous and overkill, would likely only be used to 5% of its huge, ambitious capacity.

✅ Trip Verified | Flew Joburg to Kigali 24th Aug. 2024 on a B337-700. Upgraded an economy ticket to business but did not receive much added value as economy deliver similar, relatively better product, for 30% of price paid for business. Flight was full. The 12 seats in the small business class cabin were nice, but very cramped, hardly a meter between the rows, so at recline no space in front. From window impossible to reach the aisle unless disturbing seatmates. Very noisy aircraft without IFE, WiFi, predeparture drinks, menu card, or amenity kits. Drink list was promising by far too much as reality showed limits. Champagne not offered. Wines were decent. Their widebody aircrafts provide a much better product. FAs were good and caring, but the noisy aircraft prevented good communication. Preordered seafood meal given, but gets the same meal if seated in economy. Announcements in 3 languages barely audible. On time, no luggage issues. Will travel again, but next time in economy class if aircraft turns out to be narrow-bodied.

✅ Trip Verified | Lost bags, not sure when I will receive my bags with my mediation. No customer service and everyone at the airport appear unbothered to assist. We were moved onto a very very very small plane when we arrived to Rwanda which didn’t fit all bags now all bags have been lost. No communication on what will happen next. Worst experience ever, will not be flying with them again.

✅ Trip Verified | Kigali-Joburg 26 June 2024 in an old, narrowbody B737. I was upgraded from an inexpensive economy ticket to business class by using miles in their Dream Miles Frequent Flyer Program. Check-in and lounge access in Kigali smooth as usual. Luggage was kindly checked in to final destination 4 legs ahead on different tickets and airlines. That’s a courtesy winner which hardly any European airlines can cope with. Check-in issued my 4 onward Boarding Passes on the spot, which made my life easy by staying in transits throughout the journey enjoying entitlements and lounges - instead of struggling with immigration and landside e.g. in South Africa. Lounge in Kigali is good, though still with room for minor improvements. Boarding easy by walking 150m on tarmac directly to the aircraft. The 12 business seats were in 3 rows in 2 x 2 configuration. I had 1D to avoid direct exposure to the rising morning sun. In economy, seats are narrower and in 3 x 3 configuration. Morning flight, departed on time and arrived slightly early. Onboard, seating perfect, special meal accommodated, other hot meals offered were also good. No drinks and no food menu provided. Unclear what they actually had onboard for catering. Drinks and wine selection sparse and modest. However, we were offered pre-departure champagne (Piper Heidshick?). FAs were generous, pampering us well, and of world class in kindness and attentiveness. They might benefit from further airline exposures. IFE is useless, no headsets given. Given FFP miles instantly according to my original booking. Luggage well handled. Cannot demand much more for regional flights in business class.

✅ Trip Verified | Fly at your own risk. First and last time to fly with this company. Changed the hour of departure 3 times without any remorse. Hospitality at its lowest,. At Kigali, they had the nerve of changing my seat without any explanation, i decided to ask why only to be rudely replied and no answer to my question. Treated like i was flying on their expense The food part, i am short of words. Security check in Kigali left me wondering if we are criminals. Their staff in the airports are horrible. If you want value for your money try something else. Never again, wish i had read the online reviews before booking with them.

✅ Trip Verified | Flew Paris to Kigali 16th May 2024. A330-200 aircraft. Check-in Paris was easy and smooth. Rwandair uses “extime lounge” in T1: a splendid 3rd party lounge above expectations. Onboard, I was recognised by staff as gold-card holder and could choose seat. Eventually, I got an entire middle row with 4 seats for myself, which was a great gift, allowing me to sleep. Got delicious special seafood meal and later I tried the chicken dish as well, which also was good. Breakfast very modest. IFE system acceptable with individual screens; headsets was provided. Flight was half full. Left on time and landed early. Luggage was prioritized and well handled. I took advantage of a generous 2 x 23 kg luggage allowance They even allowed me 50 kg without penalizing me. Frequent flier miles credited instantly upon arrival. This, despite the ticket was promotional and quite cheap. Will fly them again. The airline needs obviously airline partners/alliance for smoother luggage transfers and better recognition It is, unfairly, undervalued by most travelers. Another weakness is their very limited number of aircrafts which, in case of irregularities, could cause snowball effects and delays due to few or none replacements easily available.