Slap yourself on the face of thinking of booking on Kenya Airways. Then book another airline. You will thank yourself 😀

So--- where do I start? This is our first time flying with Kenya airways & will be the last. We are in Africa for a 25th anniversary trip & we were flying (KQ flight 471) from Kigali to Nairobi on 19th Jan 2024. We arrived at the airport at 7 am for the 9.10 am flight. Minutes after take-off, the pilot announced that we were returning to the gate, as a "door latch wasn't closing" & they needed to have it looked at. At around 10 am, after half an hour sitting on the flight, they said we needed to get off & they would give us an update. After sitting around for 3 hours, at 1 pm, we were told that we would be put on a flight at 7 pm, and that they were going to bus us to a hotel for lunch & to wait. We had a flight to Zanzibar at 6.30 pm on Jan 19th, but since we weren't even supposed to leave Kigali till 7 pm, we knew we would not make our connection. The Kenya Airways rep assured all of us that all of us would "automatically" be booked onto connecting flights & we didn't have to worry about a thing. Since matters were out of our hands at that time, We left with our fellow passengers & were taken to a not so nice hotel, where we were told to have lunch & wait for an update.

At around 5 pm, the reception informed us that Kenya Airways had updated them that we were no longer going on the 7 pm flight, but were going to be out on a 3.40 am flight to Nairobi, the next day, January 20th. It would be more 17 hours past our original departure time, but we had no option but to wait it out, as our bags were still at the airport.

Somehow, we all made it to 1 am at night, when a bus arrived to take us back to Kigali airport. Upon arrival, we were told that the 3.40 am flight(KQ 479) was delayed till 4.40 am. To make things even more chaotic, our connecting flight to Zanzibar(KQ 490) was also already delayed from 8 am to 11.20 am. I'm writing this as I sit at the airport, hoping to finally get to Zanzibar today. The total flight time from Kigali to Nairobi & Nairobi to Zanzibar is 3 hours or so, and thanks to Kenya Airways, we have already spent 27 hours at the airport & the hotel & we still don't know if we will actually get to Zanzibar today. And if our bags will be on the Zanzibar flight. Time will tell.

It's only now that I'm reading all the terrible reviews of Kenya Airways. We experienced the terrible customer service first hand, with agents not having any replies to questions, absolutely no apologies from any staff for the agony caused, and long lines of angry customers at every counter. The horror stories are real. Avoid this airline like the plague, if you value your peace of mind. Anyone can understand one aircraft having "operational issues". But from what we saw and experienced, cancellations, delays, no accountability & no apologies are a daily way of life for Kenya Airways. How can an airline get it so wrong, so many times?

Bottom line-RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN, FROM KENYA AIRWAYS. YOU WILL THANK YOURSELF YOU DID. IF YOU STILL BOOK WITH THEM AFTER READING ALL THE TERRIBLE REVIEWS- well, you were warned.