Kenya Airways; landing in the undiscovered paradise of corruption and jungle crime.
Written: Nov 09 '09 (Updated Nov 10 '09)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Brand new planes, great connections through nairobi hub. Impressive route network.
Cons: Chaos on the ground, concern for passengers not existing.
The Bottom Line: Africa's best connected airlines surpassing Ethiopian airlines in connections.
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| amsterdam1970's Full Review: Kenya Airways |
A fantastic new addition to Kenya Airways impressive route network,
Once in a while the world is treated with a truly unexpected novelty. For me it came as such an incredible news that it made me almost jump out of my very comfortable lounge chair at the Intercontinental Hotel in Almaty Kazakhstan. It was here in the cold misery of this former Soviet state that I had been informed of Kenya Airways newest and utmost welcome new destination. For most of you readers it might seen completely unimportant. For the rare few of us the surprisingly sudden addition of the brilliantly remote city of Kisangani, in the utmost untamed and wild Democratic Republic of Congo, to the "pride of Africa's" continuously rising network was a great and almost jubilant news. Previously one had to succumb to the notorious miseries of the horribly corrupt immigration officials at Kinshasa airport after which one had to connect to a deadly dangerous oil leaking flying wreck for a 3 hour domestic flight over malicious jungles to get to Kisangani. But now as of October 2009 one can board a glitzy fresh smelling Brazilian build Embraer jungle jet and speed in 3 hours from Nairobi (Kenya) straight into Kisangani International airport.
Check in at Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International airport,
Kenya Airways flight KQ-558 to Kisangani is leaving at 10:15AM. At the Kenya Airways counters it is pure chaos at this time of the day. This is where East meets West. This is incredibly interesting backdrop where over-sized Senegalese woman in wildly dressed colorful batik-ed dresses push away Lebanese business men with their well oiled hair while the untrustworthy smiles of maniacal Central African traders can frighten the inexperienced returning guest workers to Mozambique. I feel a sense of luck when I as a very normal economy class passenger can approach the business class lines happily waving a sky team member gold frequent flyer card thus leaving behind a endless chaos of Africa at it's most modern here at market-like mess of Nairobi airport. Life is good I decide when the friendly pretty Kenya Airways ground staff in a gold cuffed red uniform hands me over a boarding pass.
Boarding the Kenya Airways plane, a embraer 170
Boarding today is proceeding with the usual chaos as several flights are readied for departure at the same time. Our plane an Embraer 170 is parked at a remote stand. The Kenyans are trying to get passengers from several different flights into several different buses from the same gate at the same time. One can only imagine the scene unfolding when three hundred people find out at the same time they stand in the wrong bus bound for the wrong airplane. With a bit more than sheer luck I manage to find the right bus almost immediately recognizable by my fellow passengers mostly consisting of Congolese business men. With a bit of amusement I wonder why Congolese businessman are always dressed with a sense of materialistic pride. Their over- the-top standard fashion outfit consists of gold clad sunglasses, a fancy 1 kilogram gold chain worn around their necks, together with preferably shiny leather pants and snake skin boots. One has to frequently count large sums of hundred dollar bills to show off ones well deserved place in the developing Congolese society. My plane appears to be a brand new, fresh smelling ultimately fresh Brazilian built jet. The Embraer-170 in Kenya Airways all economy configuration consists of 19 rows of 4 fake leather seats divided by a small aisle. I have just settled in seat 1A when a smooth looking air hostess with a shiny well pressed uniform and an irresistible smile baring a pair of Hollywood white tooth hands out a selection of local news papers. The engines start with a slight hum and within minutes we are on our way to runway 06/24 for a quick short take off roll. We are air born in seconds scaring away a buch of colorful tropical birds luckily missing the engines by inches. We bank sharply westwards towards lake Victoria and proceed in a more or less direct course to our destination.
A half frozen chicken over Lake Victoria.
Drink service on-board today's flight consists of a tasty non-natural mixed juice, drinking water or coke shortly after-wards continued by a proper meal service. Choice of meals offered on today's flight is either still half frozen salty tasting bony slice of chicken or a thin piece of spotty lake fish in an unrecognizable bland tasting cream sauce and burned pasta. A thick sweet butter-like substance with chemical red coloring does the job as dessert. Not bad for an internal African flight. All of this in a friendly on board setting accompanied with a generous smile of near professionalism adequately trained at the Kenya airways flight attendant academy.
Landing in the undiscovered paradise of corruption and jungle crime.
During our decent the views over the endless jungles of the African Amazon are absolutely magnificent. The majestic Congo river is a jaw dropping background in the sweaty mid day jungle heat when the Kenya Airways plane touches ground at Kisangani runway 13/31 of Bangoka international airport in Kisangani. The runway seems in bad shape with plenty of potholes visible. The well trained Kenyan Pilots seems to steer around them with tact. My fellow Congolese passengers seem to conclude that touch down means the end of the flight and all of them stand up immediately even as the plane brakes towards taxi-speed. The sweltering tropical heat slams in my face as a I disembark the jet. A Congolese Immigration official baring a huge smile when my white face becomes visible among all African faces. I get offered the VIP luxury of a private rickety minivan to drive me the 20 meters to the arrival building. A very friendly welcome gesture I try to say no to. Unfortunately the sweaty palm of the immigration man in military uniform grabs my neck with force and pushes me painfully into the van. The door closes and the Representative of the Congolese government welcomes me to his lovely country. I wait patiently for the ransom demand which is a laughable small sum of 50 dollars. It seems immigration here has not followed up yet on the county's capital airport in Kinshasa. Yet another reason to fly straight into the friendly Kisangani airport. My new found friend releases me a few minutes later only after taking most valuable things out of my luggage as presents for his probably poor relatives. Anyway understandably we foreigners appear are all rich in the eyes of the poor Congolese working on government payroll. Welcome to Kisangani and thank you Kenya Airways for a smooth flight.
How to rate Kenya airways,
Kenya Airways is the pride of Kenya. Chauvinism to the top here which is almost undeniably understandable considering what Kenya airways has accomplished in recent years. An impressive route network connecting most of Africa to Nairobi and onwards code-sharing with KLM to Amsterdam. Their planes mostly new. The service is for African standards reasonable. Obviously one can not compare Kenya Airways to it;s European competitors but believe me within Africa this is a choice second to none.
How to book Kenya Airways,
http://www.Kenya-airways.com offers all the standard published fares also offered through Amadeus reservations system. No difference here with a travel agent. To be honest I would prefer to use a travel agent as the on-line payment system seems to be rather slow.
Recommended:
Yes
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amsterdam1970
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Member: amsterdam 1970
Location: KouRou, GuianaSpaceCentre, FrenchGuiana
Reviews written: 63
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