Kenya Airways Review AMS - NBO
Paul‘s 196th Flight Report
Flight: KQ117
AMS - NBO / Boeing 787-8
Flight Time: 7 hours 50 minutes
Business Class
General Impression: 
Before the Flight :
Check-in Process:
Security Control :
Lounge:
Information:
Boarding @ Gate:
Staff @ these points:
Boarding in Cabin:
Welcome Drinks:
Punctuality: , on time
, on time
During the Flight :
Food presentation:
Food quality:
Drinks:
Service Procedure:
Amenity Kit:
Entertainment System:
Seat Quality:
Legroom:
Lavatories:
Cleanliness:
General Atmosphere:
Announcement Pilots:
Announcement Cabin:
Cabin Crew:
After the Flight :
De-Boarding:
Baggage Delivery: In Transit
—-
= bad, a lot of work needs to be done
= poor, you will be busy with corrections
= good & normal, nothing special
= high level, but the icing on the cake is missing
= topnotch, leave me here!
= Half a Point/sheep
—-
On the Ground:
We arrived at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport well in advance of our flight.
As Kenya Airways is part of the Skyteam Alliance, we were able to use the Sky Priority Check-in area which is huge as the homecarrier KLM is also in Skyteam. There was a no queue at all
at the business check-in area and many counters were open.
The agent was friendly and super efficient. Check in was done in a breeze and no time.
There was only a very short queue at the Security Checkpoint with almost no waiting time.
Amsterdam has the newest scanners where you do not have to remove your liquids and electronics anymore and for the passenger itself you have one of the modern scanners as well.
But...
It seems that the agents have no idea on how to use these new baggage scanners. Around 80% of the baggage is sent to secondary screening. Secondary screening takes forever and we had to wait
around 15 minutes until it was our turn with the second check. The queue behind us got longer and longer and as it looked like, all bags with electronic were sent for second screening to do a
whipe test.
The newest machines make no sense if they aren't used correctly. We would have been triple as fast if we would have removed the electronic and liquids from the bags.
Agents at security check were rather grumpy and unfriendly.
Once through security and emigration we made our way to the Crown Club Lounge.
KLM as the Skyteam home carrier is the lounge host for all other sky team members.
The lounge is massive in size and there was plenty of seating space.
The lounge is super modern and is divided in many different areas.
The lounge offers many soft drink and coffee stations. Alcoholic beverages and drinks are available at a served bar.
They offered a big variety of hot and cold dishes, salads, sandwiches and sweets.
All in all a good business class lounge experience.
Boarding started 45 minutes prior departure.
Priority boarding speech was made and conducted according procedures.
Staff at the gate was just doing their job but otherwise nothing special.
At the aircraft door we were greeted by the senior cabin crew member.
The crew was very friendly at the door and was very present in the cabin whilst boarding.
Very soon after boarding they distributed the welcome drink, consisting of 4 different choices of drinks including champagne.
The seats were already equipped with headphones and amenity kits. Soon the crew then passed with the menu cards.
On every seat there was also a fluffy pillow and a nice blanket.
Inflight:
The Kenya Airways business class is a very nice and solid business class product. The 787-8 has a total of 30 business class seats in a 2-2-2 configuration in two small cabin sections.
The seats are very comfortable and offer enough privacy and space. Unfortunately they do not have sufficient storage space at all at the seat itself.
You have to stow everything either in the overhead bins or on the middle armrest between the seats.
All business class seats are fully lie flat and you have enough shoulder space as well as legroom space.
The seat worked perfectly fine on this flight.
After take off the cabin crew first came around and distributed some hot towels.
After around 25 minutes into the flight an aperitif was served together with some nuts.
Then they came to take the order for your main meal choice.
Around 45 minutes after take off they started with the main service. On this flight the main service was dinner and a small continental breakfast prior landing.
The main meal consisted of an appetizer, main meal, a small piece of cheese and a dessert. They also passed several times with drinks.
Continental breakfast consisted of fresh fruits, yoghurt, bread and croissants with butter and preserve and they passed twice with drinks as well.
Presentation of the food was good and the quality of the food was okay. My beef was super super chewy but the one from a travel companion was super tender. Otherwise the meals were good and very hot.
Continental breakfast was super sufficient as per our inner clock, the service started 2:10AM. So there is no big hunger. Quality of the food was good.
The cabin crew on this flight was good. They were super present in the cabin but unfortunately did not interact much with the passengers.
They did their job nice and professional but without care, passion and class. They often forgot to serve entire rows. Once it was drinks, once it was bread and so on.
A little bit more attention to details and interaction would be nice.
Bathrooms were checked throughout the flight and always refilled. They were always clean.
The amenity kit is good and offers the regular content. (socks, toothbrush, eye mask, ear plugs, a cromb as well as a pencil.
As a nice touch and a perfect match for Kenya Airways "the pride of Africa" are the socks with the paw prints of a lion.
The inflight entertainment is good and the screens worked fine. They have a good size and resolution for business class. The screens are touch screens but you can also choose the handheld
devices to navigate.
Kenya Airways has a good selection of movies, films and series. Unfortunately they only offer the Films etc in 4 languages.
The aircraft is not equipped with wifi.
Announcements on this flight were on the poor side.
The ones from the flight deck were okay but the announcements from the cabin crew were not understandable. They were way to silent and fast.
So now let's see how the transit procedure works in Nairobi.
Our summary:
A very solid and good business class product. It isn't the newest product anymore and inflight service isn't the most fanciest one but everything was good and solid.
Would the crew have interacted more with the guest it would have been even better.
But, I would reuse Kenya Airways any second again after this flight experience.
Notes:
- Paul the Sheep does not get any benefits from the Hotels/Airlines etc.
- Paul will always pay for the services in order to be able to rate freely and truly about the experiences.
-If you are interested in more details, please send me a private message and I will be happy to share