Rwandair

✅ 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.

✅ Trip Verified | A short and pleasant flight at an affordable price. The boarding is smooth, but way too early prior to departure. Plane was clean; water served and on-time landing. Will fly with them again

✅ Trip Verified | The most useless airline I have ever flown. They cancelled my flight three hours before departure. No hotel accommodation was give, no info about the next available flight. Had to go back to their headquarters today and I met a an incompetent supervisor who refuses to let me talk to the manager or someone with a higher authority than him. Imagine him telling me that they are protecting me by conditioning me to wait till tomorrow and fly 18 hours or wait till Monday evening and do 15 hours back to Brussel, when other flights like KLM, Brussels Air, Turkish Air are available today. My advice to anyone, please refrain from taking Rwandair because the customers rights are not guaranteed or in any way respected. Am still stranded in Kigali. Not sure when to depart.

✅ Trip Verified | Pleasant, direct flight Kigali-Paris 4th April 2024 one of their (3?) A330-200. Ticket inexpensive, purchased on their website under promotion. However, initial ticket was not adjusted for European summer time which had just begun at the time of travel. Upon their discovery hereof, WB made schedule changes from Kigali causing a much later arrival in France. This caused made me fear losing my connection in Paris, to which I had only 55 Minutes to catch in a remote terminal. However, the Rwandair flight arrived 20 minutes early, which saved me. Dream lounge in Kigali is nice, accessed through my Dream-miles membership. However, every time I go there, budget and catering cuts are notable. Recent cuts are on hot snacks, lack of any imported soft drinks and beers, lack of alternative brewery representation (only products from Bavaria offered). Wines are undrinkable. No presence of music, no volume on TVs so the lounge is too quiet like a national museum. To watch Premier League in silence is tragic. Check-in a breeze. Had a dialogue on seating and I eventually had 4 seats to myself in row 13, as few wants that row number. Boarding quick and easy; by foot over tarmac. Catering is among the best of African airlines. Preordered seafood of high quality was given early, within 5 Minutes after seatbelt sign was switched off. Got a chance to test another type of fish meal as well, it was also delicious. Breakfast forgettable. Drinks fine, wines are surprisingly good, much better than those in their Kigali lounge. IFE was fine headsets given to all who wanted. Staff were good, attentive, polite, accommodating, and caring. The passenger is the king is never patronised unless in extreme cases. KLM staff could learn a lot here. Flight almost full, but due to my faith in row no. 13, I could stretch out across seats, and got a lot of sleep. Recommended. Miles credited instantly. A drawback for Rwandair is its isolation by not belonging to any bigger airline alliance. Partnership with Qatar Airways is weak, not reciprocal and does not access the Oneworld alliance.

✅ Trip Verified | RwandAir has a curious way of boarding passengers at Kigali Airport. Business passengers are invited to board first and are transported to the aircraft on a bus fitted with comfortable seats. However, after leaving the departure lounge, they are then held back while all the other passengers board an ordinary bus before they allowed on to their bus and driven to the aircraft. I can see what they're attempting to do but the reality is that you are left standing in a corridor, in my case for about ten minutes, before going to the aircraft. The A330 was clean and the seats, in my view, an almost perfect design with all of the controls accessible, the seat itself comfortable and the bed flat enough to sleep on. We were offered champagne, orange juice or water and orders for the meal taken before departure. The meal service was done effectively and although the presentation was more premium economy the food was tasty and there was a good selection of drinks. What was remarkable was the way in which one member of cabin crew managed to serve the entire business section with nobody kept waiting. Airlines will charge higher prices because they offer improved levels of service. RwandAir business flights tend to be far lower than rivals yet this flight demonstrated a quality far greater than the more expensive options on offer on its routes. All that it needs to do is to solve the weird boarding routine which I have experienced on more than one occasion.

✅ Trip Verified | Rwandair’s A330 business seats are functional with no obvious weaknesses. There was ample storage space at the side, a nice screen, well-placed sockets and switches and they all had aisle access. The best seats for single travellers are the window seats. Rwandair uses the No.1 Lounge at LHR which is nothing special and it was full to capacity although I did manage to get a seat. Boarding was efficient with business given priority. Departure was delayed for almost two hours by an unspecified technical fault but the cabin crew were happy to supply more champagne when asked. The meal service was efficient although drinks took a while to come. The food and wine choices were uninspiring. The flat bed was moderately comfortable and the cabin was kept pleasantly warm. Overall, I was impressed by the flight and given that the cost was considerably less than most other airlines it was good value for money.