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I flew Kuwait Airways and I liked it

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This past weekend Harley Davidson sent me to Lebanon for a bike ride as part of a media trip. They took care of my airline ticket and I hadn’t noticed until the very last minute that they had booked Kuwait Airways for me. If I had noticed earlier I would have obviously requested to change my flight to MEA but it was too late to change the ticket and I was stuck flying Kuwait Airways.

While checking in at the airport I asked if I was flying a new plane and turns out I was. I still wasn’t too thrilled about flying on the new planes because based on the photos Kuwait Airways had published in their instagram account (here and here), the new planes looked outdated, ugly and gloomy. Not sure why Kuwait Airways posted those horrible pictures but turns out they’re misleading and not an accurate representation of how the planes actually look like.

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When I got onboard the new plane I was completely taken a back by how nice and bright the interior was. In the photos on the Kuwait Airways instagram account, the chairs looked dark and the walls and ceiling had a dull grey tone but in reality, the blues were vibrant and the walls and ceiling were bright and light colored. I sat down in my seat and noticed I had really good legroom as well, so far I was really impressed. I started flipping through the media center checking it out while the passenger next to me plugged in a USB stick with movies and started watching something. This is a completely new Kuwait Airways and I was liking it.

I flew both ways with the new Kuwait Airways plane and honestly I think the planes are better than the MEA ones which I normally fly with to Lebanon. There was even internet onboard the Kuwait Airways plane which I tried out on the way back ($10 for 30mins, $20 for 1 hour and $40 for 3 hours). Even the food wasn’t too bad at all and because no one flies Kuwait Airways, the plane wasn’t very packed making the experience even more enjoyable.


[YouTube]

I did have an issue though and it was with the flight attendants. When I headed to the bathroom at the back of the plane while we were flying, I noticed one of the flight attendants was sitting in a passenger seat with the headphones on watching a movie. I thought that was pretty unprofessional. Another incident which also showed a lack of professionalism, when we landed and the plane was still on the runway heading towards our parking spot, a passenger got up from his seat and started getting his bag from the overhead compartment. Instead of the Kuwait Airways flight attendant telling the man to sit back down she got up and walked over to him and helped him carry his bag down from the overhead compartment. Then other people started getting up to get their overhead bags while the plane was still moving. Total chaos and I though it was ridiculous that the flight attendants weren’t telling the passengers to stay seated until the plane stopped. But then again this was Kuwait Airways. Although everything does look new, modern and up to date, end of the day this is still the same airline and the flight attendants are a reminder of that.

Putting aside my issue with the flight attendants I actually had a great experience with Kuwait Airways. In fact I would choose Kuwait Airways over MEA in a heart beat if the Kuwait Airways flight wasn’t an hour longer (they don’t fly over Syria, Jordan or Israel so they take a big detour). I thought the in-flight entertainment system had more than enough entertainment for the 3 hour flight, I found the seats comfortable, the legroom was great and my overall experience was very positive. The only thing I would say though is that they can update all their planes as much as they want, they can get the new A380s even and have onboard showers but that’s not going to be enough to move the airline forward unless the employees get retrained and their professionalism reestablished. And I’m not talking about just the onboard flight attendants but every employee you interact with from the minute you checkin to the last Kuwait Airways employee you see should reflect this new and improved Kuwait Airways. Other than that they’re off to a pretty good start.

53 replies on “I flew Kuwait Airways and I liked it”

I was just going to tell you Mark that you’ve, through no fault of your own, dug a hole for yourself when you mentioned “Israel”.

Good luck buddy. The mindless fanatics will be coming for you.

Some people get offended by the term because it gives legitimacy to the ethnic cleansing of Palestine which has been taking place since 1947.

(they don’t fly over Syria, Jordan or Israel so they take a big detour).
What was the last “thing”?
No matter how much time passed, no matter how “Arabs” left their brothers behind. It will always be Palestine, not that “thing”
Please fix it

Regarding the people getting up to get their luggage while the plane is still moving… It’s a problem I sometimes see on MEA, Jazeera and even FlyDubai as well, I think the staff have just given up telling people to sit down and if they fall or get hurt it’s their fault. Although if I was a flight attendant I would love to yell at some passengers through the PA system and embarrass the hell out of them!

Any idea if KAC is flying the new planes to Rome?

I have seen the attendants on KLM do this!
“Can the gentleman in blue please take his seat till the flight has come to a complete stop”…over the PA and he repeated it in the same tone until the red faced guy sat down.

True they do the same on other airlines but the flight attendants usually try and restore order by telling everyone to remain seated.

No idea if they fly to Rome, I noticed three new planes at the airport last night including the one we were on. No idea how many new planes they’ve received already and what routes they’re flying on.

I’m surprised of the flight attendant watching a movie thing…. I don’t expect that even from Kuwait Airways…

Believe it or not, a few years ago, I spotted one of the flight attendants all cozy and covered under a blanket dozing off in a vacant first class seat.

Nothing tops that time I flew MEA many many years go, on an empty-ish flight to Beirut. After they served lunch and made sure we didn’t need anything else, the attendants just sat in the back and cracked open a bottle Red Label scotch and poured themselves drinks

Dear MARK
You didn’t want to fly Kac from the beginning and U’ve tried to book another flight , saying that u didn’t like it and planes are old or whatever , since u have that feeling anyhow , u will never like something even though it is fine .
Personally , u might be right that U’ve seen a F/A sitting in the pax seat getting entertained , well generally procedure doesn’t allow but she might got permission from Cabin chief ,, however ,it is not acceptable and against rules ,, talking about the other F/A who helped the pax moving his bags from the overhead stowages , have u ever imagined that cabin crew got sick of talking and talking , these people don’t listen at all , I call them j*** . They think they own the plane or if they didn’t move quickly they will be left in the plane , and we take them back to Kuwait , I don’t know what the hell they’re thinking , in addition this pax might be flying alone , wheelchair , or pax with particular needs , so the girl is just trying to offer help (( her manners reflect her attitude )) . Afterall all carry on luggages stowed in the overhead bins must be taken out once the aircraft has come to a complete stop , as well as people to stand up. But what we see on board is totally different ,, I strongly agree with you that doing such stupid and unprofessional manners shows a bad image on the airlines , and I hope they change staff from A to Z ,, cuz if u are a pax and u’re getting disappointed , I am a Kac cabin crew and I’m already disappointed of some of my colleagues , I hope you fly again and again with us , there are too many great and nice flight attendants .thank you
I’ll be answering ZAYDoUN ,, yes Kuwait airways new aircrafts will be operating Rome , and Europe generally On Airbus 330’s , they’re coming on MAY ,
Wish you all an enjoyable flight with us .

As far as I know flight attendants who are sleeping or watching a movie are either off their shift if it is a long flight. Or just aboard the plane to be working on another flight after their arrival.

New Airbus A320-214 are total of 7 and . AKE / AKF / AKG / AKH / AKI / AKJ / AKK
New Airbus A330 wide bodies are coming on MAY inshallah ,,
And there will be new destinations as daily IST flights , Munich , Vienna , ….. Some new Indian sub destinations as well as enhancement of some flights …

Great to know about your positive experience. It might make me reconsider Kuwait Airways in the future.

By the way, not all A380s has a shower. Qatar Airways A380 do not have it. And I heard that it’s not being utilised (Used) as expected in Emirates. It’s hardly used.

Mokhles

Yea it’s not as bad as you make it seem! :p

Last time I travelled on it was last winter, no complaints at all.

Hey, Mark. I’m afraid an A380 airplane requires an A380 runway. You’ve got more chance of discovering a time machine in your basement, through which you would travel to Kuwait International Airport of the distant future and possibly see an airport that’s ready for an A380. By which time this plane would be grounded anyway, replaced by passenger spaceships.

Thats a lame thing to say. If you spend more than 5 seconds on the blog you’d know the majority of the content is positive stuff about Kuwait.

You’re the man Mark, and your posts are awesome. You do represent Kuwait in a good way, even if you are not a Kuwaiti.

Not sure what some people are talking about.

Hi Mark,

Great review of Kuwait Airways new aircraft. What i heard that they don’t have adjustable reclining back seats in Economy Class. Is it true?

I flew to Beirut on MEA , before the plane even has reached the gate a line of Men and women all lined up with there hand luggage ready to exit the plane and nobody from the crew said a word …. 🙂

I recently flew with Kuwait Airways and my issues were exactly the same. The employees! The flight attendant where least bothered about any order all throughout the flight. I had a baby with me and no one bothered to double check if I fastened the seat belts properly. They didn’t even do the usual second round for checks on belts. Lack of courtesy and politeness all throughout. And same, no one asked passengers to remain seated. Chaos!

I recently flew on emirates with my daughter and they didn’t give me a seatbelt for her.

And the next time I flew on business class, the entertainment system was broken on my seat only and couldn’t change the seat cause he flight was full and they didn’t give a refund nothing

Kuwait Airways has a long way to go before it will be considered as a regular decent carrier.

People who have no other option use kuwait airways. Lol.. I even know some kuwaitis who would never step onto a KA flight.

Last time I was on a KA flight was 4-5 years ago. Even if they offered me free tickets I wouldnt fly with them, just way too many bad experiences. But the worst thing I can think of is the attitude of KA staff. Generally they dont give a damn.

Maybe in the near future if they fix all this I might consider giving them my money. Until then there are plenty alternatives.

For me, I HATE the CABIN crew since on many occasions when I asked for a drink, my requests were usually IGNORED while my brother/cousin’s requests were attended.

Bye bye Kuwait Airways, Hello Emirates 🙂

So true……

One of friends requested for water in Kuwait Airways and the flight attendant brought water, but poured it on him…. According to my friend it was deliberate.

Quite frankly you’re lucky you didn’t ask her for a glass of water..she would have told you to get up and get it yourself. That happened to a friend of mine. Kuwait Airways wins the award for the rudest,racist and most unprofessional stewardesses in any airline in the world. New planes won’t bring their customers back. They need to fire people with the new planes and for God’s sake update the 1970s uniforms.

I would to inform you that kuwait airways fired more than 1000 employees + changed the crew uniform (old uniform were from 1995 not 1970’s😉) My regards

thanks mark for this useful and optimistic post about Kuwait airways. as every body knows kuwait airways was the first national airline in the region to this day its managed by Kuwaitis not such as others in the region. we really hope that Kuwait can stand up again and maybe can compete Qatar airways and Emirates in the medium run. In regards with the a380 kuwait airways is not in a position now to buy this type of airline due to its large cost compared with the low demand in kuwaiti market a320 and a 330 are great now for Kuwait airways.

I just wanted to ask you about Jordan, I know why Kuwait airways doesn’t fly over Israel, Syria but why Jordan ? it is a hub for Kuwait airways and Kuwait has good relations with them>?

regards and Keep On

Probably because if they fly over Jordan they need to exit either over Syria or Israel since those are the two countries on the other side.

The last time I flew Kuwait airways (last year in December):

1. The check-in counter was being renovated, so all flights were being checked in at Gate 2 – this was complete chaos – but other flights checking in at Gate 2 were not having any problems.

2. I was standing in line longer than the duration of my flight.

3. Despite having checked in online, there is no queue for online checked in passengers (unlike almost every other airline).

4. None of the KA staff were there to organize the chaos – there were many that simply stood around pointing at the crowd.

5. Due to their own inefficiencies, their flights missed the designated take-off slot (which is given by the tower); and thus many people were simply told their flight has been cancelled – without any re-booking help.

6. I don’t know if this is the fault of KA (but probably the fault of the airport itself), but the baggage carousel was not working, causing a large pileup of luggage. This of course made it so that my luggage missed my flight.

7. When I finally managed to wrestle my way to the front of the line, they refused to issue me a boarding pass despite being already checked in; I got agitated and then as if to do me a favor, the guy said “okay okay” and gave me a boarding pass – with the wrong seat.

8. I finally made it to the airplane to find out that (as Mark mentioned) its completely empty; but this was an older plane so it had this nice veneer of grey all over everything – the plastics, the seats, the carpet.

9. My seat on the aircraft was broken (it would automatically recline). Usually these seats are made unavailable for passengers. I wasn’t even told to move; I moved myself to a different aisle.

10. Not really a problem with KA – but the “senior flight attendant” completely botched the safety announcement; not to mention the crew doing the demonstrations could be less bothered.

11. I think I was the only one wearing my seatbelt (as there were no checks done for this). One gentleman decided to recline his seat, take off his shoes and put his feet up across the aisle on the opposite seat’s armrest – all while the plane was taxing and without a peep from the crew, who all had an expression as if they were doing us a favor being onboard.

So your experience is definitely the exception and not the norm.

Good to know, Mark! But unless there is a fundamental attitudinal shift in staff behavior and an infusion of some baseline level of interest toward customer service, KU is a dead bird. A dodo. And there’s little a Phillip Saunders or anyone on the planet can do. Shiny new aircrafts and safety is a key theme but not the only one. It will take more than just sabre rattling from a tough task master to get KU staff to perform, and perform without discrimination.
The lack of diversity in crew is another sore point. Somehow flying KU, as an expat, you cannot NOT come away without getting a sense you’ve overstayed your welcome with them much less were never welcome in the first place. I suggest the crew gets a crash course or treatment from Bayan Dental on how to get a Smile. For her part, Madame CEO can put them through the paces of globalization and what it takes to gracefully serve people whom you may not necessarily take a shine to, based on color, race or social standing.

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