Rwandair

I was concerned about this Rwandair flight after reading some negative reviews, but I can't speak highly enough. The flight was only half full, meaning very personal service from the staff on board. The plane was quite new and very clean. The food we received was good and surprising given it was only an hour flight. My bag arrived in good time. Absolutely nothing to complain about.

Once onboard the Rwandair flight was comfortable and the cabin service and meals were good. The flights each way were quite empty and passengers spread out to empty rows. IFE is by drop down screen and they had the same movie each way. Check in early as there appears to be confusion about departure times for WB100. Some days of the week it leaves earlier to stop at Lusaka on the way to JNB. We confirmed our flight as leaving at 1810 but when arriving at the airport it indicated 1845 as the departure time. We boarded the aircraft when the screens indicated that boarding would occur in 20 minutes. We left at the earlier time and flew direct but it was not a day when it was scheduled to leave earlier on account of the extra stop.

I flew Rwandair from Libreville to Johannesburg via Kigala, at the end of August 2015 from LBV to JNB, and was very disappointed. The flight LBV to KGL without any problem but when I reached Kigali, to my surprise the ground staff told me to show my vaccination book. I told them that the ground staff from origin did not tell me that I needed to carry my vaccination book. The ground staff told me to stand aside. They agreed that ground staff from origin should have asked it to me as a requirement to travel. I then asked them to find me a solution and suggested that I would agree to get the yellow fever vaccine again at Kigali Airport as long as I could move on with my trip. Their response was that there was no doctor at the airport and I needed a visa to get out of the airport. I told them that I was willing to pay for visa and hotel to stay until the next flight to JNB but they categorically refused to let me out of the airport or to call for a doctor. I finally ended up waiting 22 hours at Kigali airport and Rwandair not offering even a single glass of water. They kept telling me that they would provide me with food and even a free phone to call home, but nothing happened. Fortunately I always carry my credit card and could satisfy my thirst and hunger. Finally, they flew me back to Gabon and told me that my ticket was lost. They treated me as a refugee, keeping all my documents all the way to LBV. When i reached LBV, I complained to the ground staff and to the station manager, but until now I did not get any call or mail. I have never been treated like this before.

Dubai - Johannesburg - Dubai 10 and 24 Jan. Was initially very apprehensive but was pleasantly surprised. Legroom excellent. Airport staff more than friendly even stamped our passports so we could enter the country during our 8 hour stopover. Will definitely use again if possible!

Flew Kigali-Mombasa with RwandaAir 3rd Dec 2013. Booked online which was hassle free. No online check-in though. The plane was modern 737-800 American cockpit crew local cabin staff. Leather seats with good legroom. Despite short flight (1.5hrs) they managed to serve hot meal. Professional and friendly cabin crew. Overhead screens displaying flight tracking only. The plane was half empty which partly explains the efficient service. 45mins delay on departure 30mins on arrival. Bags were waiting on belt when clearing immigration. Surprisingly good experience flying with RwandaAir.

WB100. When I work in Nairobi and needed to travel to Kigali for meetings I would take this airline and I have not experienced anything so bad in the past. However a few months ago when I decided to fly it back to South Africa after a meeting in Kigali I was shocked by my experience. I normally take South African Airways on that route but this time the flight was not available and therefore booked Rwandair. The airport seemed very busy - like a market place with women talking at the top of their voices to other women right next to them. When it came to boarding there was a mad scramble to get through the gate and onto the plan. It was not organized at all. When we got into the plane the captain spoke to us for a brief moment and that was it until landing time. In the air they served dinner immediately after take off with no snacks prior to dinner. They also didn't seem organized as the person serving drinks served kids first and the one who came with the dinner forgot to serve some children and their poor mother had to walk to the front to get her children food and walk all the way to the back to her children holding 2 trays of hot food while trying to balance as she walked. On landing passengers only knew it was landing time as the lights were switched off and the captain then announced we were landing and told crew to take their seats. On landing the plane seemed to bounce of the tarmac and lean to the right before it finally settled on the tarmac but the Captain kept braking suddenly on the taxi to the gate. This seemed strange to me and all the while the Captain did not explain anything to us about the landing or the breaking. I'm not sure I would want to take this airline again to Johannesburg in the near future.

Travelled J'burg to Kigali and Kigali to JRO in July. Both flights left and landed on time. Check in was efficient and in flight service was above my expectation. Aircraft were clean and comfortable with plenty of legroom. A very pleasant experience and highly recommended.

I had purchased a flight from Nairobi to Jo'burg in November of 2012 for a trip I took the first week of April. Apparently when I was trying to catch my connecting flight to Kigali I was informed that my flight had changed completely. And I'm not referring to a minor change in time but completely. I guess when RwandAir made the changed they forgot to put me on the new flights. They had informed me that I wouldn't be able to catch my connecting flight until the following day. Instead they put me on another flight with a different airline. I had to wait for 11 hours at the airport. Additionally my return flight was changed as well which included another long wait for my connecting flight. I also had to change another flight because of this. RwandAir caused me to waste time waiting money to change my flight and sleep. I don't want to punish the courteous flight attendants as they were great but I would be careful with booking with RwandAir.

Excellent flight late last year from Jo'burg to Kigali return. New plane top class friendly staff very professional. Will definitely use them again when required.

Two flights in January 2013 JRO - KGL (via Mombasa) in their brand-new CRJ900 NextGen (less than two months old at the time) and KGL - NBO (ageing B737-500). All flights departed on schedule and food and beverages were included ranging from hot breakfast for the one hour flight to Nairobi to a packet of cashew nuts for JRO - Mombasa. Crew courteous and professional planes appear to be in excellent shape. The final landing in NBO was a bit rough but no complaints otherwise. The only downside was that the flight times had been changed a couple of times between booking and the actual flight. Apparently this is quite normal but flight times have been pushed from mid-morning to early morning then late afternoon before back to mid- morning and finally to mid-evening where they remained. Mind you there were 7 months between booking and the flights so this might be normal however we left plenty of time in our planning to account for those changes.