Review Kenya Airways operated by HiFly Business Class NBO-JNB
Flight Time: 3 hours 30 minutes
Business Class
General Impression: 
Before the Flight :
Check-in Process: N/A in transit
Security Control :
Lounge:
Information:
Boarding @ Gate:
Staff @ these points:
Boarding in Cabin KQ crew:
Boarding in Cabin HiFly:
Welcome Drinks:
Punctuality: , 35 min delay
, 35 min delay
During the Flight :
Food presentation:
Food quality:
Drinks:
Service Procedure:
Amenity Kit: N/A short haul
Entertainment System:
Seat Quality:
Legroom:
Lavatories:
Cleanliness:
General Atmosphere:
Announcement Pilots:
Announcement Cabin:
Cabin Crew KQ:
Cabin Crew HiFly:
After the Flight :
De-Boarding:
Baggage Delivery:
—-
= 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
—-
Spoiler Alert:
I was sooooooo sorry for the KQ Crew on this flight. The HiFly Crew was so arrogant, selfish, snobs and treated the KQ crew like second class. A complete no go.
KQ should get rid of this HiFly Ops immediately as per our feeling and experience on this flight this is a huge reputation loss for Kenya Airways.
On the Ground:
As we were in transit in Nairobi and checked through, we only had to go through security control again.
Nairobi has a Sky Priority lane, which we were able to use. There was a short queue at the Security Checkpoint with almost no waiting time.
Agents at security check were friendly and helpful.
Transiting in Nairobi was an easy thing again and once through security we made our way to the Kenya Airways Lounge.
Nairobi Kenyatta has two Kenya Airways / Skyteam lounges. One is the Simba Lounge right after security and above the duty free area and the other one is the pride lounge right above gate 17.
Simba Lounge is rather small and old. Pride Lounge is new, modern and has enough seating availabilities.
Lounge:
We went to the Pride Lounge and that lounge is super modern and is divided in many different areas.
The lounge offers a soft drink and coffee station as well as a all alcoholic bar. Softdrinks and alcoholic drinks were self service whilst the coffee bar was served.
They also offer a nice buffet with hot and cold breakfast items. There is a fresh egg cooking station where you can order your egg any way you like it.
The toilets in the lounge are spotless clean and also offer 2 showers.
All in all a great business class lounge experience.
Gate / Getting on Board:
Our flight departure time was delayed by 35 minutes due to the late arrival of the incoming aircraft.
Boarding started 35 minutes prior the new indicated departure time.
Priority boarding speech was made, respectively yelled in to the crowd and priority boarding was conducted according procedures.
Staff at the gate was just doing their job but otherwise nothing special.
At the aircraft door we were greeted by a cabin crew member of Kenya Airways and one by HiFly Cabin Attendant.
The crew was friendly at the door greeting the customers.
No crew really in the cabin whilst boarding. A super arrogant HiFly Flight Attendant walked sometimes up and down the ailes but at least she greeted the guest on board. The HiFly purser was
the most arrogant human being I have encountered in a very very long time. He walked back and forth in the cabin but he would not smile, not greet or not interact with any of the customers on
board.
Very soon after boarding they distributed the welcome drink, consisting of 4 different choices of drinks including champagne.
All the work was done by the poor KQ crew. The HiFly crew was standing in the galley, chatting, laughing and eating. At least one HiFly crewmember came out and brought some drinks to new
boarded guests.
The super uncomfortable seats were already equipped with a pillow and a blanket.
No headphones on this flight as the inflight entertainment system was not working at all or they simply did not switch it on.
The KQ crew then passed with the menu cards.
A huge huge safety concern from the HiFly Crew was during take off and landing.
The purser at door 1L was chatting with his colleague on 1R the entire time. She was laughing so loud we could hear her in the 3rd row.
There was no minute of silent review, actually there was not even a second of it.
When the captain set the take-off thrust for take off, the HiFly purser was playing with his mobile phone. Another complete no go.
On approach the same thing. No preparation for landing. They were talking and laughing with each other from door 1L & 1R until touchdown.
Such safety breaches should have consequences as it is totally unsave.
Inflight:
This super old HiFly Airbus A330-200 - has a total of 24 business class seats in a 2-2-2 configuration in a small cabin section at the front of the aircraft.
The seats are very uncomfortable and are super tight with minimal legrest for a business class.
Space wise it is very similar to what KQ offers on their Boeing 737 aircrafts.
The seats do not have any storage for personal items at all.
These business class seats are not lie flat and have a rather steep angle. For a 1.80m big person it is impossible to rest comfortably.
After 40 minutes into the flight they started with the service. The HiFly cabin crew first came around and distributed some hot towels.
Then the HiFly cabin crew came to take the order for your main meal choice as well as your drink order.
Then they started with the breakfast service. On one side of the cabin a KQ cabin crew was working and on the other side a HiFly crew.
Unfortunately we got the HiFly Crew.
The service was so slow, so unfriendly, so unpersonal and I am sure that if she would have been allowed, she would have loved to through the things at passengers.
The main meal consisted of fresh fruits, a joghurt, bread and croissants with butter and jam and a hot breakfast meal. They had the choice of 3 different hot meals.
Presentation of the food was good and the quality of the food was good too.
The flight attendant on our side simply brought the drinks we ordered and that was about it. No refill no nothing.
A small glass of juice and a coffee on a 3 1/2 hour flight.
If you wanted something you had to go to the galley to get it yourself.
As written in the spoiler, I was so sorry for the KQ cabin crew on this flight.
They tried so hard to offer a great service and keep the KQ Spirit up but it was impossible. The KQ crew were smiling and interacted with the guests when they were in the cabin.
The HiFly Crew was simply arrogant and more decoration than anything else. I have never ever experienced such an arrogance of a crew.
They treated the KQ Crew and passengers from above as they would be something better. A disgrace for HiFly as a company but hey, who cares. HiFly only offers ACMI service so why should they
be friendly, nice or do anything. The company who rents them out like KQ has to lease them anyhow and has no other option.
The crew had no attention to details, no care and class and you could see that they couldn't care less. Terrible to see such a product and in our eyes a huge reputation loss for Kenya
Airways.
During the entire flight the purser was walking up and down the aisle like a police man. No smile, no interaction just a catwalk for his arrogance.
Behind us in Business Class was the load master of HiFly. They have their own redcaps as the KQ stations do not know the Aircraft or the HiFly procedures.
He was so annoying as he was walking back and forth in the business cabin during the entire flight.
But hey, he was the only one who got a real service on board, got pampered from the purser and smiles from the cabin crew.
Oh, and the crew let him sleep with the seat down even after the secured the cabin for landing.
Disgusting !
After the service and for the rest of the flight (2hours) the crew did not pass once in the cabin or distributed some drinks. They were having a galley party.
Bathrooms were checked throughout the flight and always refilled. They were always clean.
Inflight Entertainment / WiFi:
The aircraft has no real inflight entertainment system.
You can stream it only on your mobile device and that's it.
The screens in front of everyone remained dark and not even the map was shown.
The whole thing only worked a few minutes and then it didn't work until landing.
The aircraft would be equipped with WiFi but it is switched off as well. As said only streaming of the map and some films on your mobile phone are possible.
Announcements on this flight were good from the flight deck and cabin crew. They were clear and understandable.
We have never ever said this before in our life's as flying enthusiasts but this was the first time that on top of decent we said: "happy that this flight is over"
We felt more disturbing than being passengers or even guests.
After the Flight:
Baggage delivery didn't work this time in Johannesburg.
First bags arrived on the belt 20 minutes after arrival on the stand but economy bags only were delivered first.
Priority bags were delivered last 40 minutes after arrival at the stand.
Our summary:
Dear Kenya Airways, please please please stop this ACMI Ops as it is a massive reputation loss for your company.
An easy transit in Nairobi.
A very solid and good business class lounge product.
The HiFly Business Class hard product is below KQ standard on a long haul plane.
The HiFly Crew is a disgrace for any cabin crew on earth.
Should I see the next time, that one of my flights is operated by this ACMI company HiFly it is a reason not to book a flight or to rebook my ticket.
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