Kenya Airways5 reviews
This score is based on 5 genuine reviews submitted via BritainReviews since 2026.
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Find companies you have experience with and write reviews about them! Your reviews contribute to a more transparent market and improve the reliability of companies.Stripped of cash mid‑flight, left with no help
I waited over 40 minutes before anyone came to assist, and by the time they walked me back to the aircraft cleaners had already been through the cabin. I was told, amazingly, that I couldn't file a police report in Nairobi even though the theft happened on their flight; I was told to wait until Johannesburg to make a sworn affidavit. That was not practical and left me stranded.
While I was in the air on my connection, my bank alerted me to attempted chip‑and‑PIN transactions on the missing cards. I wasn't carrying them, I never share my PIN, and I don't recognise the merchants — which to me confirms the theft happened on board. Landing without cards or cash, with a wedding celebration to attend, was stressful and humiliating. There was no written incident report, conflicting answers about onboard CCTV, and little sign of empathy or immediate help from staff. A station manager told me the airline "only takes responsibility for checked luggage", which felt like a shrug rather than a solution.
I've escalated this to the airline's CEO and to my bank and insurer, and I still think travellers should be warned: keep valuables on you, and be prepared that incident handling may be slow and inconsistent. I'm still sore about the whole experience — not just the loss, but how it was dealt with.Not one I'd choose again
I wouldn’t recommend this airline based on my trip. By the time we were halfway through the whole mess I’d pretty much decided to avoid them in future. We turned up at Nairobi well within the recommended time, but the bag drop crawled along so slowly we nearly missed boarding — not what you expect when you’ve planned ahead. Once airborne things didn’t improve. The flight itself ran late and there were dozens of passengers with tight connections; when people asked the crew for help they were met with a kind of cold indifference, which was disappointing. The onboard service felt minimal on a nine-hour stint — two meals only, drinks handed out with meals and nothing in between. I asked for a coffee mid-flight and was told to wait until the next service; being denied water or coffee for hours felt wrong. Communication was also poor: we had an EU departure and later sat on the ground for over three hours waiting for a changed connection. The only alert came by SMS, which for obvious reasons we didn’t see while flying on foreign SIMs. It’s awkward and amateur to rely on that. I’ve flown a fair few airlines, budget and full-service, and this one felt unorganised compared with the better ones. Finding a complaints form on their site was near-impossible, and my email to customer service over a month ago has had no reply, which adds to the feeling they don’t respect customers. On the slightly brighter side, the in-flight entertainment had a decent selection and a couple of crew members were quietly polite, so it wasn’t all terrible. Still, the combination of delays, poor ground handling and indifferent service means I won’t be rebooking.
Late night chaos at OR Tambo — not impressed
00 flight which meant my travel agent rebooked me onto a 01:35 service that night. I arrived at OR Tambo early – I was first at the counter when they opened around 21:30 – and honestly my first thought was just relief that I’d get this sorted quickly. That didn’t happen.
The on-duty manager, Derrick, decided he wouldn’t check me in because I was a Kenyan national and, according to him, people often buy the Dar es Salaam fare because it’s cheaper than the Nairobi one and then plan to stop in Kenya. He kept saying I needed checked baggage to prove I was travelling through, which felt bizarre because I had a rucksack and a small bag with me – enough for an overnight. He demanded I produce a return to Nairobi within a specific timeframe, or change my ticket to show Nairobi as my destination for the flight, then rebook to Dar later. I explained that I can travel back to Kenya by other means and that Tanzanian entry rules allow a 90-day stay; that didn’t seem to matter.
It got worse: Derrick pressed for me to buy a pricey return ticket on the spot — he mentioned a figure that would have been well over 70,000 KSh — and said he wouldn’t let me board without it or without proof that I’d be back in Kenya within two days. I refused to be strong-armed into buying a ticket I didn’t need, so I ended up being offloaded. I had to scramble and book with Air Tanzania at the last minute to make an urgent appointment, which was inconvenient and stressful.
There were bits that worked: the online rebooking by my agent was straightforward, and the airport staff aside from the manager handled the crowd reasonably well. But the interaction with the manager turned a tired night into a mess. The whole episode felt like profiling and an odd inflexibility on very narrow rules, applied in a way that didn’t make sense to me. So, not a total disaster — flight operations seemed fine overall — but the customer service and the way the situation was handled left a bad taste.Late-afternoon scramble in Kigali
I was stood in the departure hall in Kigali when the day really went sideways. I’d booked months earlier, planning a multi-leg trip home via London, and my first impression at check-in was that things looked… ordinary. Then the schedule kept slipping. One change, then another, and suddenly we were facing the real possibility of missing our onward flights. Delivery of the promised times was poor from the start. Communication was worse. There was a WhatsApp number labelled as a 24-hour helpline, but getting useful help from it was hit and miss at best. I tried that line, then phoned, then walked round the airport à la several attempts — not ideal when you’re on a tight itinerary. A chap called Cleophas answered at one point. He knew we were at the airport but didn’t call us over or flag anything immediately. He said he’d look into getting three seats out of Rwanda so we wouldn’t lose the connection. We heard nothing for ages, so I went looking. On arrival I found him dealing with people who had come to his desk in person. He prioritised those who showed up, which I get — but we were there, asserting flexibility, even offering to pay for upgrades or split across flights. He kept saying there was nothing until the next afternoon, which, in plain terms, would have wrecked the rest of our journey. That lack of proactivity felt like failure of customer service rather than bad luck. We tried Rwandair next door. Their staff said there were seats and even went to speak to him; they came back crestfallen and apologetic because he maintained there was no option. In the end we booked ourselves onto Brussels Airlines that evening and paid substantial sums to avoid missing the big flights later on — roughly $10k between us, which is far from ideal. The airline’s team only messaged via WhatsApp with a standard apology many hours later, by which time the situation had been resolved without them. Emotionally it was draining. Practicality-wise, the delivery of the service was unreliable and the onsite support felt indifferent. There were a few decent moments — some staff tried to help — but overall the experience left me disappointed and a bit wary of using them again. If you value predictable timings and responsive service, be prepared to follow up in person and to have a backup plan. I’ll be more cautious next time.
Half a marathon of travel — but we got there in the end
a Dar es Salaam to Nairobi flight got cancelled with hardly any notice and we were rebooked on an earlier service. Problem was, we were still in Zanzibar and simply couldn’t get to Dar in time. No reps at the airport to ask help of, so we had to trek into Stone Town to find the airline office — extra taxi costs and a lot of time lost. Eventually they rebooked us on a later flight from Zanzibar and we made it, after a long day of waiting and stress.
First impressions when we finally boarded weren’t great — grumpy, tired passengers and a shaky start — but I do have to say the crew on the eventual flight tried to be helpful and kept people informed when they could. It didn’t fix the upset or the wasted time, but it made the final leg more bearable. We spent about a full day dealing with delays and extra transfers, which isn’t ideal, and after lots of emails they refused compensation citing jurisdiction rules. No voucher or small gesture was offered, which I expected at least.
So, did my doubts disappear? Not entirely. I’m relieved we got home and a bit impressed by the crew’s effort, but I’m also annoyed at how the disruptions were handled on the ground. Would I book again? Maybe, but only if I had a solid backup plan. Honestly, it was a learning experience — stressful, yes, but not without tiny moments of decent service.
About Kenya Airways
Kenya Airways is a Kenyan airline providing scheduled passenger and cargo air transport services. Headquartered in Nairobi, it operates through its main hub at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, linking Kenya with destinations across Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The airline serves leisure and business travellers, as well as freight customers. Kenya Airways is a member of the SkyTeam airline alliance and is part-owned by the Government of Kenya and KLM.
This information is based on publicly available data and is provided for orientation purposes only.
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Last update: May 2026
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Late-afternoon scramble in Kig
I was stood in the departure hall in Kigali when the day really went sideways. I’d booked months earlier, planning a multi-leg trip home via London, and my first impression at c... Read onBy: isobel