Kenya Airways Review JNB - NBO
General Impression: 
Before the Flight :
Check-in Process: 
Security Control :
Lounge:
Information:
Boarding @ Gate:
Staff @ these points:
Boarding in Cabin:
Welcome Drinks:
Punctuality: , 2 min delay
, 2 min delay
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: N/A in Transit
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= 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
—-
The departure time of our Johannesburg to Nairobi flight was scheduled at 1:15 AM. So almost in the middle of the night.
On the Ground:
Check-in in Johannesburg was nothing special. For a Southafrican Station, the agent was rather grumpy and unfriendly.
She did not greet the customers, worked liked a robot and everything was stoic.
Only one security checkpoint was open in Terminal A at that time of the day.
There was only a short queue with a waiting time of around 15 minutes. That was still okay. No priority lane at the international departure for security.
Staff at the security point was okay. Nothing special, nothing bad.
Right after security in Johannesburg were the emigration counters. Also here a queue of around 15 minutes. Only 3 counters open for around 4 longhaul flights but officers were very swift and friendly.
Kenya Airways uses the South African Airways lounge in Johannesburg and so we went to the SAA Premium Lounge.
The lounge was closed for a long time during COVID and the financial struggles from SAA.
It still looks exactly the same as pre covid and nothing has been changed or renovated. Vice versa, the closure has left its signs with water damages on the ceiling and such alike.
Otherwise the Lounge is still good and very big in size. There is plenty of seating space and private areas to relax.
F&B offerings were good with a hot buffet, a very big cold buffet with different salads, cheese, sandwiches and other snacks.
No drinks are self-service and that is why the lounge offers a big served bar.
Boarding started 10 minutes after the indicated time. No announcements were made at all. A ground staff agent was yelling the boarding procedures into the full waiting area.
Priority boarding yelling would have been done, but no one adhered to it and no one checked it. So boarding was a mess.
Staff at the gate were the same robots as at check-in. No passion, no customer service, nothing. The same unfriendly bunch of people.
At the aircraft door we were greeted by a cabin crew member.
The crew was friendly at the door but no one was helping in the cabin. At one point all 4 cabin crew squeezed themselves into the very tiny 737 business galley to chat.
Once boarding was completed, they distributed the welcome drink, consisting of 4 different choices of drinks including champagne.
The seats were already equipped with a fluffy pillow and a nice blanket.
The crew then distributed the amenity kit. 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.
Inflight:
The Kenya Airways business class on their Boeing 737 fleet is actually a real fix business class.
Our aircraft had a total of 16 business class seats in a 2-2 configuration.
The legrest was awesome and also the recline of the seat was very good. All in all the seats were super comfortable.
After take off the cabin crew first came around and distributed some hot towels. Then they came to take the order for your main meal choice.
After around 20 minutes into the flight they started with the service.
Oh well, I don't know if you can call this a service. The tray looked and was a disgrace for an almost 4 hours flight in business class and also a Kenya Airways should be embarrassed to offer
such a product.
I fully fully understand that at 1:45 AM in the morning, there is no need for a full service but there would be much much better options than some samosas and a chewing something of meet on a
full size tray.
In my opinion, for this flight I would only do a drink service with nuts after take off and then let the passengers sleep until 1 hour prior landing and then offer a small half size tray with a
mini breakfast (joghurt, fruit, croissant) for breakfast.
Or
If they really want to offer the service after take off, offer a nice and tasty sandwich or hot panini.
But do not offer an empty full size tray.
In addition also the quality of the food was very bad and as already mentioned the presentation was below anything.
Full drink service was offered with the snack and for the second time, the crew did not offer any hot beverages on this flight. When asking for coffee or tea they just said they will not be
serving any on the flight.
This was already the second flight without hot drinks (1st was NBO-JNB).
Before landing the crew just passed with some water and juice on a tray.
The cabin crew on this flight was good. They were present in the cabin but unfortunately did not interact much with the passengers.
They did their job nice and professional but without passion and class.
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 aircraft was not equipped with a mounted inflight entertainment system. On Kenya Airways Boeing 737 you can or better said have to stream everything on your own devices.
As I wanted to rest, I didn't try out the system.
Announcements on this flight were again on the poor side. This time it was vice versa. The flight deck announcement were way to silent and not understandable and the cabin crew announcement were louder and clearer.
After the Flight:
Arrival in Nairobi was on an open stand and we were driven by bus to a small staircase somewhere at the airport to get up into the terminal.
As we were in Transit in Nairobi and all bags were checked to the final destination we didn't have to collect our bags.
Our summary:
A mediocre airport experience in Johannesburg.
A solid and good business class cabin on this Boeing 737 aircraft.
A terrible inflight service which should not be allowed to be called service for an almost 4 hours flight. A disgrace and embarrassment for Kenya Airways.
Definitely not worth the money spent.
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