Review of Kenya Airways flight Nairobi Johannesburg in Business

Airline Kenya Airways
Flight KQ 760
Class Business
Seat 2F
Aircraft Boeing 787-8
Flight time 04:15
Take-off 11 Dec 15, 08:25
Arrival at 11 Dec 15, 11:40
KQ   #46 out of 95 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 110 reviews
East African
Published on 16th December 2015
Hamjambo, mabibi na mabwana!


Thanks for clicking and welcome to the 4th part of the African trip that covers the continental link between Africa's 15th and 3rd largest cities.


1/ MRS – AMS: Air France, AF1820, Economy: no report
2/ AMS – LHR : KLM, KL1021, EBC (C), B737-700, published here
3/ LHR – NBO : Kenya Airways, Premier World (J), B787-800, published here
4/ NBO – JNB : Kenya Airways, Premier World (J), B787-800, you are here
5/ JNB – NBO : Kenya Airways, Premier World (J), coming soon
6/ NBO – AMS: KLM, World Business Class (J), coming soon
7/ AMS – MRS: Air France, AF1807, Economy: no report


With most long haul flights arriving within half an hour's time, the security checks and screenings were crammed of Asian, European, American and African travelers. Removing the shoes is compulsory and KAA does not provide disposable plastic socks.


Used for disabled passengers too
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T1A was inaugurated the 7th of July 2014 by President Uhuru Kenyatta, son of Jomo Kenyatta, even if it became officially operationnal to general public in August 2014!

KAA renamed each of the terminals to keep in line with international standards and expectations (T1A, 1B, 1C, 1D and since April 2015 domestic ops at new T2). These developments also finally separate passenger streams and prevent arriving and departing passengers meeting, other than through glass partitions, required by the American FAA for Cat 1 status, which will allow for direct flights between the US and Kenya. (DL to Atlanta most likely…)

Airy and luminous
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In this brand new wing, KQ customers and Skyteam frequent flyers can unwind in one of the 2 lounges both located at the mezzanine - The Simba and, the nearest to gate 17 - The Pride Lounge!
I obviously opted for the latter much larger! To summarize its assets compared to its predecessors, one can find a 7 bed dorm (= rest area bloody cold due to the aircon), decent tarmac views (too bad for the tinted window panes) and a sort of high tech zone with Samsung Galaxy tablets!
Also, it looks like the hot drink machine is not automatic like one could expect, hence a lone robotic staff member must deal with all the customer requests which, 1) are plenty in the morning time for sure generating long queues/wait and, and 2) is ludicrous since as far as i know making expresso or most teas doesn't require high skills…(well that's the case with my Nespresso Coffee Maker at least lol)


Entrance
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A nice touch of African opulence
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A new thrice weekly visitor
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A second breakfast
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At 8 am, i was one of the lasts to board along with a couple of Danes, slowed down by a computer issue.

5Y – KZF, 14 months old ( only the 2 first 787s got a name)
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KQ operates 3 daily flights at 8:25 am, 12:05 pm and 9:45 pm, the morning service sees a widebody 788 while the followings are flown with 738 theorically offering a BSI cabin or a E190 with personal IFE. SAA provides 2 daily flights on A320, Ethiopian with 10 weekly services sends a 77W or the 738, like RwandAir for the single aisle aircraft.

The usual stuffs were handed out: PDB, a comprehensive amenity kit, newspapers/magazines.
Once the slides were armed and cross checked, load factor appeared light in Premier World, although in a 737/E190 cabin it would not have been so blatant. (btw i've included cabin shots from another JNB-NBO flight)


The amenity kit is provided on the morning flight only!
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SA181 departed 20 minute before us due to the congestion, the second runway, part of the Greenfield project won't come too early.

Some old 772s are parked on the left
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What's on TV now?
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Just splendid!
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Uhuru Peak on the right
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Breakfast meal followed quickly a hot oshibori, served in 3 steps by an energetic and charming crew. I was not in the mood to think hard, therefore i watched the comedy the Croods that helped to catch forty winks in this comfortable full flat seat.

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1st round: tasteless fruits
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2nd round: warm and flaky croissant (there are 2 types of bread roll to choose from also)
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3rd round: Despite a low 11% of Muslim population in Kenya compared to Tanzania, no bacon/pork on KQ menus, very pity as this chicken sausage tasted horrible!
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Lake Malawi, can you spot the competitor?
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Forward cabin
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Same again
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A common occurence with KQ: no self-service buffet in the galley
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second cabin
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Lilongwe – capital city of Malawi – brought back good memories !
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The state-of-the-art Bingu Stadium should have been handed over 2 weeks ago…
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Runway seems in better shape than during my last flight in 2010
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Landing on 3L at 11:30 ahead of schedule.

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One of the many open-pit mines
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B-2047 in special c/s
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I've missed that one last year: So fustrating to see it now!
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Zoulou Fox at JNB
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Health officers collected the Ebola form before lining up at the Immigration lanes where a rather useless heat screening took place prior getting your stamp. The luggage got delivered in no time on the belt while my large box waited at the oversize/fragile bagage area!

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Have you already got 3 or more stickers? :-D
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That's all folks from now!
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See more

Verdict

Kenya Airways

8.5/10
Cabin10.0
Cabin crew9.0
Entertainment/wifi9.0
Meal/catering6.0

Kenya Airways Pride Lounge

6.1/10
Comfort5.5
Meal/catering5.5
Entertainment/wifi8.0
Services5.5

Nairobi - NBO

6.5/10
Efficiency3.0
Access6.0
Services7.0
Cleanliness10.0

Johannesburg - JNB

8.1/10
Efficiency7.0
Access8.0
Services7.5
Cleanliness10.0

Conclusion

Lounge a bit crowded, but it's well designed and represents a huge improvement.
No surprise in flight, you get what you pay for!

Comfort: full flat so by far, KQ is the best way to travel in/to/from East Africa
Crew: Smiling and some of them do speak fluent French
Catering: simple and it was my third breakfast of the day so...
IFE: Comprehensive with many movies/tv shows/documentaries/news/games in 4 languages

Thanks for reading,
Coming up next, a taste of the competition...

Information on the route Nairobi (NBO) Johannesburg (JNB)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 4 avis concernant 1 compagnies sur la ligne Nairobi (NBO) → Johannesburg (JNB).


Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est Kenya Airways avec 7.5/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 4 heures et 12 minutes.

  More information

8 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 152586 by
    SKYTEAMCHC GOLD 10065 Comments
    Thanks for sharing this report with us. KQ seems to provide a very good service on board and most of the report I ahve read agree on the very good crew members.
    Makes em want to try them once !
    • Comment 330331 by
      East African AUTHOR 1581 Comments
      You're welcome, thanks for reading and commenting SkyteamCHC
      Is the good service due to the constant decline of the loads? maybe or maybe not...
      TBH with you, regarding KQ reviews my own opinion is often biased ;-) , however if one day you do fancy going to Seychelles, or to the white sandy beaches of Mozambique or to a safari in Africa you should give them a go!
  • Comment 152613 by
    Nick 171 Comments
    Great report! T1A looked really nice, I've unfortunately only experienced the old terminal at NBO. The lounge and the 788 business cabin also looked quite sharp as well.
    • Comment 330414 by
      East African AUTHOR 1581 Comments
      Yes very true and sorry for that!
      There is a trick indeed, T1A new gates start from the number 15, KLM flight is often allocated at T1A yes but gates 7-10 ;-). And RwandAir operates from the former Unit 2 (= regional, gate 3-5).
  • Comment 152734 by
    KévinDC TEAM SILVER 6668 Comments
    Beautiful report. Some awesome aerials over Africa!

    The new pride lounge looks very nice. catering onboard is underwhelming for this breakfast flight, but the seats seem very comfortable and roomy. Great fisheye cabin shots!

    Nice shot of SA A320 over lake Malawi!

    Where is that pic in Jo'burg CBD taken from? Did you stay in the CBD?
  • Comment 154167 by
    NGO85 SILVER 1963 Comments
    Thanks for sharing this FR! (I know I’m way late to the party)

    From the pictures of seen in FRs, the Pride Lounge does look to have a nice local décor.

    Fantastic shot of Uhuru Peak! Great air-to-air with SA too.

    The breakfast looks very disappointing for J. The fruit looks like it came off a Y tray. The main also doesn’t look that enticing. At least KQ pre-pours the cereal and doesn’t give you a box of Kellogg’s like CX ;)

    So honestly, I read the SA report first. I’d say that there is no comparison between this hard product and what SA offers on their A320s. The seats don’t offer an incredible amount of privacy, but with a light load like on this flight it's a non-issue. The catering on this flight wasn’t good, but if you already ate in the lounge, then who really cares. It sounds like KQ offers a great soft-product with friendly crews as well.

    PS – I’m glad you took off your sandals before standing on the seats for that great aerial shot of the cabin :)
  • Comment 154506 by
    East African AUTHOR 1581 Comments
    Thanks again for replying NGO85

    (I know I’m way late to the party) => No worries ;-)
    From the pictures of seen in FRs, the Pride Lounge does look to have a nice local décor. => Much better than before
    At least KQ pre-pours the cereal and doesn’t give you a box of Kellogg’s like CX ;) => huh, CX? the well respected airlines does that? hard to believe... :-D
    The catering on this flight wasn’t good, but if you already ate in the lounge, then who really cares. Exactly, and add to this, the eventual short/long haul brekkie for some passengers...


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