Kenya Airways Reviews 

I booked a return flight to Johanesburg from UK with Kenya Airways.
Below is the explanation and email I sent them after being sent back to UK from Kenya transfer.
They have refused to refund me my flight cost of £896.01 and although I have used an intermediary to push them to refund me they haven’t.

Hi
I have spoken to your call centre.
I booked a flight online via your airlines from UK to Johannesburg. I was stopped in Kenya and Johannesburg immigration would not allow me entry.
I have been in Johannesburg since January last year and I paid an agent and went to VFS offices in Pretoria to get an extension which I was granted. I then used same agent to apply for a waiver while I awaited go ahead to apply for a retirement permit.
I checked with agent I am ok to fly to UK, he assured me I was as long as I showed my waiver with passport.
I was stopped by immigration out of Johannesburg and issued a form. I sent it to the agent to deal with. I contacted him to ask if he dealt with and he said he was waiting to hear back. When I said I'm going back to Johannesburg he says he needs payment again to check if waiver on the system. He then asking me for more money to check this, I said what if it's not there, he said he had another call. I've been told by another agent the waiver is never on the system!
I paid the agent twice and went to VFS twice to ensure I have the right to stay and travel.
I brought a return ticket and extra baggage with your airlines expecting to come back to UK with all my things as I decided I cannot retire to Johannesburg after all.
I'm 60 year old woman with health conditions who has kept her accommodation in Johannesburg expecting to go back so I've been paying for it.
I never expected to be stopped on route to Johannesburg and I am requesting all my flight money back given the traumatic experience.
I landed in Kenya 5.30 am and had to wait around under stress and anxiety until 1.15 amfor a flight back to UK.
I suffer with multiple health conditions that have affected me. I'm exhausted, anxious, stressed, disappointed as I feel the system has failed me.
I would appreciate a full refund please. Something was flagged at Heathrow airport when I went to check in to fly to Johannesburg but a supervisor must have bypassed it and said I'll get my boarding pass in Kenya. I thought nothing of it until now. I should not have been allowed on the plane if they suspected I may not be allowed to my destination of Johannesburg.
I would like a full refund please.
Look forward to your response.
Regards
Their response:

Thank you for your communication but as earlier advised .

As an airline, before boarding our passengers, we are required to perform due diligence first to make sure they meet the minimum criteria set by the authorities in the destination country. When entry documents are not in order, it can cause indefinite delays for a passenger at the point of entry, and a heavy fine for the airline with which the passenger has arrived. In this case, we note that you were not able to travel to Johannesburg due to a lack of boarding clearance by South African immigration.

In such circumstances the airline is not liable for any expenses incurred by passengers when they fail to meet the minimum requirements. This is as stipulated in our conditions of carriage that the responsibility to comply with entry regulations lies with a passenger.

It is our hope that you understand our position in this matter.

Sincerely,
Margaret Gathuru

My response:
Good morning.
My papers were in order. My documents were in order. I had a right to travel. I had extension and a waiver to my passport which I had received from VFS offices in Johannesburg. I expect to get a full refund for my flight and baggage allowance. Please look into this as I paid £896.01 for this flight and cannot be expected to not receive a refund when I did not complete the flight.

i had booked one-way ticket from zanzibar to nairobi. i periodically check flights- but on this occasion it appeared they moved our flight from the monday to a tuesday date. By this rebooking we would have missed our flight back home.
i called the airlines and inquired as to why i was not notified- i was told because i bought a basic ticket that they do not notify per policy.
As of now = i have to rebook at a higher cost- i was told by the New York representative that if the ticket is now 200 or 2,000 it was my choice. Even Spirit airlines will ALWAYS notify if there is a flight change.

Horrible Experience with Kenya Airways – Lost Time, Money, and Even Our Bags
I recently traveled to Kenya with our elderly parents, and choosing Kenya Airways was the biggest mistake of the entire trip.

Our outbound flight from Mumbai to Nairobi on 27th June was originally scheduled for 2:30 AM, but was rescheduled twice — first to 6:00 AM, then again to 8:00 AM — all at the last minute. We had no choice but to book a hotel room in Mumbai at our own expense just to wait out the delays.

Because of the late arrival in Nairobi, we missed an entire day of our safari in Amboseli National Park, which was a major part of our itinerary and non-refundable.

It didn’t get better on the way back.

Our return flight from Nairobi to Mumbai on 7th July, scheduled for 4:45 PM, was delayed until 9:15 PM.
— we were forced to pay out of pocket for a lounge just to sit comfortably.

The delay caused us to miss our connecting flight from Mumbai to Goa, and we had to purchase new tickets for all three of us. The only available flight landed in Mopa airport, 60 km away from our home, and we had to spend even more on a long cab ride back.

To make matters worse, when we finally reached Mumbai we were all in for a shock. our checked-in luggage — 3 bags filled with gifts and souvenirs for our loved ones — had not arrived . And we got to know from a trusted source that there is a huge back log of baggages. The entire experience has been exhausting, expensive, and deeply disappointing

Worst compagny ever
They don't respect their client and leave them hours and hours at the airport with fake news : "yes we will leave in 2h", "finally we will leave in 6h", "finally we're leaving tomorrow"

Pire compagnie aérienne. Moins cher coûte cher. Ça fait des heures et des heures qu'ils nous ont laissés à l'aéroport, en nous faisant croire qu'on partira bientôt. Ils nous font croire qu'ils vont nous envoyer à l'hôtel mais finalement changent d'avis. A FUIR

As with most airlines, its the customer service which fails.

Do not believe their upgrade website and the benefits you get. We had a connecting flight through Nairobi, a few days prior I received the email to give upgrade options. On this site, I could upgrade the first flight or the main flight. We had a long layover in Nairobi and so up on checking the benefits of upgrading the business class on the first flight it stated access to the Nairobi lounges. Therefore, I opted to purchase this. Upon reaching Nairobi they would not allow be to use the lounge with out payment, despite BOTH boarding passes saying 'Sky Priority' and the lounge saying it gave access to Sky Priority customers.... Upon complaining they implied I was a liar and sent me a screenshot of a generic website page, not the upgrade page you access by email. When I asked to escalate the issue, they ignored me and closed my ticket. I would not have purchased the upgrade unless it specifically had listed this benefit.

The flight itself was actually a pleasant experience with decent service and good food, so its a shame they have a website that miss sells.

They changed my booking without notification
I realized when i tried to check in, I have health issues and book with short stops, after they had changed my flight I had to stay 11 hour over night instead of 2 hours as my booking was. I missed important meetings and income. When I tried to get in contact with them it was impossible, I spent 2 hours in phone listening to ”Sorry all agents is busy”
I spent 8 hours trying to reach them on chatting, same reply, plus a lot of stupid generated auto responses
Don’t fly with Kenyan, I just tell you

Bad bad badest….. cancellation of flight, had two overstays in hotel and no compensation what’s so ever! Trying to get in contact yourself is almost impossible. Now with lawyers hopefully some change of reimbursing but so far all we here is silence. Be aware of this company and only fly with them if you like taking huge risks

I am writing to express my deep disappointment with my recent experience on Kenya Airways during my June 20 flight from Nairobi to Frankfurt.

From the outset, we encountered unprofessional and unethical behavior from a check-in staff member, allegedly named Mwiti. She was aggressive and persistently demanded a bribe due to honey packed in one of our bags. Upon refusing, she followed us throughout the check-in process. I suspect this was directly related to our luggage being intentionally left behind in Nairobi, as confirmed by on-site staff when she returned to the baggage area unsupervised.

After security, she approached me again and explicitly demanded money, referring to us as “her clients.” This behavior was not only inappropriate but also highly unethical and concerning for the reputation of your airline.

The issues continued with our flight being significantly delayed without proper communication. As a result, we missed our connecting flight in Frankfurt. To make matters worse, our luggage arrived days later, and all valuable items—including MAC cosmetics, perfume, jewelry, and dresses—had been stolen.

This experience has left us shocked and disheartened. The level of misconduct, lack of communication, and security failure was unacceptable. I urge Kenya Airways to investigate this matter seriously and take appropriate action to prevent future incidents

No information when delays, no compensation and no service at all. It is my 5th trip with Kenya Airways and not one of them has been on time.

So much wrong with this company and the worst customer services experience in Kenya. Wanted to make a change on the extra baggage that I had purchased.... not allowed. No refunds available... so went with it although international shipping MUCH cheaper. Despite paying $100s for the extra baggage one of our 7 bags was over by 2kg. Despite the other 6 all being underweight by 1-4 kg.they wanted to charge for this extra asked to speak to a supervisor at JKIA (Wayne) who was outrageously rude and unhelpful.
The planes are uncomfortable, food inedible, business class is budget class on most other airlines. Flights frequently delayed and don't even think that "customer services " are going to do anything other than give a rote "i apologise ". The frequent flyer scheme is also worthless.
Kenya is an amazing country with some excellent services. KQ is an embarrassment to this beautiful country.

Terrible. We flew with them December last year. Our flight was cancelled twice when we were at the boarding gate. It took us over 48 hours to get to our destination and they are refusing to get in touch to offer any sort of compensation. We travel to Kenya a lot and will never use again.

@KenyaAirways We booked a direct flight (Q5MVNQ) from Nairobi to Cape Town. It turned into a multi-stop bus route with no notice. 9+ hrs stuck onboard. Denied toilet access. Seats changed. Lounge granted only 45 mins before boarding after 15 unanswered calls. Absolutely unacceptable. #KenyaAirways #PassengerRights

Kenya airways is the worst airlines on earth, I arrived from Dubai to Uganda, it’s two days now and my luggage can’t be found, the contacts numbers we were given,those individuals are not sure the whereabouts of my luggage , worst experience ever , shitty airlines 😖😖😖😖😖

On the very day of departure, Kenya Airway cancelled my flight from Amsterdam to Nairobi, due to "operational reasons". Operational reasons stem from issues within the airline's control, such as crew scheduling, maintenance, or baggage handling. Essentially, it's a catch-all term for problems caused by the airline itself.
So knowing this, you would think that the airline is really sorry for all the inconveniences caused by their own actions and that they will make sure all costs suffered by their customer will be taken care of and add some, for all inconveniences caused.
Forget it! They sent me to the agency that bought the tickets for me and refused to help me. Why not letting others deal with the problems you yourself caused, right? So not only did I miss my trip to Kenia, they also took my money! Let this be a warning to all travelers with Kenya Airways. I will never use them again.

No Support or Compassion from Kenya Airways During a Family Bereavement

I am absolutely disgusted by Kenya Airways’ lack of policy and compassion when it comes to supporting customers dealing with bereavement.

While travelling through Africa, I received the devastating news that my father had passed away. I needed to cut my trip short and contacted both the travel agent and Kenya Airways directly in the hope of rearranging or receiving some flexibility around my ticket.

Kenya Airways’ response was nothing short of cold and bureaucratic. Instead of offering assistance, they repeatedly deflected responsibility back to the agent. There was no effort to engage with my situation, no gesture of empathy, and certainly no policy that took bereavement into account in any meaningful way.

In such a deeply emotional and difficult moment, I was met with corporate indifference and zero accountability. For a national airline, I expected far better. This experience has left me with a bitter sense of how little Kenya Airways cares for its customers when they need support the most.

T.E

I flew Kenyan Airways flight KQ 497 to Nairobi and KQ 532 to Lagos and I must say that this was the best flight I have taken. The 737-800 had fantastic in-flight entertainment.
The crew were super friendly, very commutative, nice , generous and professional. The food is super cool, and the whole team were just fantastic.
Our baggage were handled with utmost care,even the Pilot landing was like hot rod sliding through butter, so smooth.

This is just not a one off,.even my 2019 flight was same with Kenyan Airway.

The in-flight announcement was so clear, the crew were not talking like they were asked to speak 1million words in 1 minute. They spoke at a normal tone, clear and succinct.

Ive flown several Airline but Kenyan Airways is high there.

Thanks for being the best .

They should not be allowed to fly internationally. They're incapable of minimal international standards. You never know where your bags are, they cancel and Change international flights more often than Uber drivers.
Flights sometimes leave 20 Min earlier with ultra stressful last minute calls, sometimes late with ultra stressful last minute calls. Every official has his rules.

Hardly worth me reviewing as see they already have one of the lowest scores ever. Pros slightly cheaper than BA and allowed 2 cases which is worth money.If you like alcohol they are generous.Cons awful food.Worst of all they shut book in desks at Heathrow very sharpish and disappear with no help desk and if you find a member of ground staff they lie or give misleading information. They rarely respond to complaints, even if the CAA write to them.So many airlines including BA and Virgin are signed up to the Alternative Dispute Resolution but not Kenya Airways and I wonder why!

My wife was treated badly homeward bound checking in at capetown. In spite of travelling business class, she was not allowed the nr of luggage pieces as was granted based on her frequent flyer status on the outward bound flight. When my wife mentioned this, she was accused of making a fraudulent statement. An additional 200 dollars were charged.
In return home we pur in a complaint. Only after several reminders we got a response that an answer would be given within a week. Much later we got a response that the complaint (with registration nr mentioned) was lost. After a total of 3 months we are still waiting for a response.
In the mean time we have avoided flying Kenya Airways again.

Flying from Entebbe to Malawi, we were late by 24 hours. We missed a hotel booking on the night we were due to arrive.
On the way back from Malawi to Entebbe, we arrived at LLW to find the airport closed. The flight had been cancelled, with no notification by Kenya Airways.
On arrival in Nairobi the connecting flight was cancelled, thus we had an extra 4.5 hours wait, which we were only told about at the time of the expected flight. The total delay on this journey was 23 hours. KQ staff in Nairobi do not seem to be concerned about these delays as they have probably seen it all before.