Effective January 13th 2016, United Airlines is stopping their service to Kuwait. A reader emailed me a link yesterday with some information about it and there seems to be a bit of conspiracy to why they’re ending the flights. Originally the article stated its in retaliation to the whole issue with Kuwait Airways refusing to fly Israeli passengers but the article was later updated stating it was due to financial reasons.
I called my contact at United Airlines and they confirmed to me that they will be ceasing operation in January. No official reason was given to the stoppage but according to my contact they hadn’t achieved their target and also maybe because of security reasons. Not sure what kind of security reasons but it did remind me of the rumor that British Airways were going to stop flying to Kuwait unless the airport upped their security game.
In any case its disappointing we’re losing United. I flew with them a few weeks back to Knoxville, Tennessee and they were by far the fastest way for me to get there. Their plane sucked since it was old, dark and cramped.. but it was a direct flight straight to Washington so saved me a lot of time. Next year would have marked 10 years of United Airlines operating in Kuwait.
Thanks Michelle
40 replies on “United Airlines Ending Flights to Kuwait”
The US Airlines are all easily among the worst in the world, not surprised they can’t afford to compete when they’re not just competing with each other. I would rather take the extra connecting flight and go through Lufthansa, Emirates, KLM, pretty much anyone else.
FLYDUBAI TO DUBAI AND TRANSFER TO ANY AIRLINE THAT YOU WANT AND BY-PASS KUWAIT INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. That is how I fly anywhere, although I usually stay a few days in Dubai to take advantage of the chauffeur service since this is where my flight really begins and ends. All US carriers are struggling to compete with GCC carriers (not Kuwait Airways) and are having to cut back flights to the region period. No one will miss them if they leave the entire region – they run old planes with dated amenities (seen the Jennifer Aniston commercial for Emirates?). Ironically Donald Trump spoke about the run down airlines and airports in the US in one of his speeches, so if he wins the election, maybe he will do something about the mess – you can’t call yourself a first world country with national carriers like UA, AA and Delta. On a positive note to your readers, apparently Kuwait Airways is running their new planes on certain flights to London, so another option would be to take this newer plane to London, that’s granted you are Kuwaiti, because foreigners are treated poorly by this airline (ie the Israeli lawsuit).
Kuwait Airways you say? Oh please! Don’t make me laugh at such ridiculous statements. Here is my review of Kuwait Airways and it is NOTHING compared to my lovely Emirates airlines:
https://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/trip_reports/read.main/269078/
It’s not “my lovely Emirates airlines:”, it is their lovely Emirates airlines and belongs to the Emirates government not yours.
That is sad to hear they were my #1 choice of airline to Bahrain!
Security at the airport is very appaling indeed…except for alcohol that is. They sniff it out like sharks do a drop of blood.
with no Chevron employees left at JO there are many few americans looking for flights to the US. Suspect they were left with some empty seats
Dude forget Chevron, there are several left in the Oil sector and Arifjaan.
I just flew United from Kuwait to Dulles a few weeks ago and the flight was packed! Lots of people like the convenience of going nonstop to the US.
This is too bad; this flight was very convenient. I hope they will change their mind and continue the flight, or bring other Kuwait-Washington flights.
I liked their amusing crew and captain announcements. In the end its about business, and sadly Kuwait is a bad country for doing business.
+1,000,000,000
the only reason I have been choosing United because of that flight. is any direct US to Kuwait non stop flight ?
Kuwait airways. To be honest with you, it wasn’t my worst experience with them. They had great food, and good service, just bad seats.
Nope, Kuwait Airways is NOT non-stop to the US. Farthest it goes non-stop is till Heathrow.
They have a direct flight to New York
Shoot, sorry. I forgot about KU117 to JFK direct.
Lately yields on KWI route have been decreasing and united lost lots of business after the US pulled out of Iraq, KU will introduce new direct US destinations in 2016 & 2017 on brand new 777’s
When you say KU, I assume you mean Kuwait Airways? (KU= Just Kuwait in my mind.)
Well i’d assume if it KA, then it would be a dry flight to the States? If so, count me out.
Yes KU is Kuwait Airways, Don’t worry never counted you in in the first place.
I’m not surprised since they have recently been talking about unfair competition from foreign rivals mainly Qatar, Etihad, and Emirates, stating that they have received over $40 billion in hidden subsidies from their government. The article stated: “…the foreign subsidies could put U.S. carriers out of business.” This could be the reason.
No need to speculate. Here is their direct quote to the press.
“However, the airline later said, “the service is not meeting our financial expectations” and added that the characterisation that they had been ordered to leave Kuwait and Bahrain was “inaccurate”, Leff wrote. United States Department of Transportation (DoT) ruled on October 5 that Kuwait Airways’ refusal to carry Israeli passengers on its flight between London and New York constituted unlawful discrimination.” That is United Airlines response on why they are leaving the market – it is purely financial.
That’s exactly what Mo speculated: unfair competition. GCC airlines can provide cheaper tickets to customers because of subsidized fuel.
Wiki-leaks blew this argument out of the water by releasing evidence on how US carriers are in fact subsidized by the US government. A central argument of some U.S. airlines seeking government protection from foreign competition is that the Gulf States have been inappropriately and unfairly helping the Gulf carriers become established with financial aid. What this report shines a bright light on is the simple fact that government assistance has long been provided on a very large scale to airlines around the world. So the fact is they need to address their customer service levels, the quality of their aircraft and their overall flight experience if they are to compete against Gulf Carriers (not Kuwait Airways).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwYr4LAIUjk
It’s not just United. Delta used to fly directly to Kuwait from the U.S but they also ceased operations ages ago…… Well too bad!
There are more options for you to use, I’ve been going to the States for 5 years now, and the quickest routes I’ve used were qatar airways (doha-philadelphia), Kuwait airways (kuwait-JFK), Emirates airlines (Dubai-JFK, and Dubai-LAX), all of them have fairly low layover timings.
I can’t help but think…that this is not a coincidence…
British Airways planning to stop trips to Kuwait, now United Airlines….hmmm.. Something seems fishy.
The two countries with intelligence / hacking. They must have some information that conflicts with flying… Might sound like a conspiracy theory, but I think they know something we don’t.
No tin foil hats yet. I just hope a plane doesn’t get shot down soon January – March flying over Kuwait… Just my skeptical gut feeling.
Fly safe 🙂
BA isn’t planning on stopping flights. It was a rumor
Oh thanks didn’t know it was.
The country definitely needs to step up their game:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/sheikh-ahmad-kuwait-olympic-body-suspended-031431213.html
The problem I have with Kuwait Airways is I do not trust them do do the required maintenance to keep the planes safe. I don’t believe the inspectors will actually do the safety inspections or can do them as they sit in their offices drinking tea and playing with their phone. Really would you trust your life on aircraft inspected by the locals!!!!
not me been here long enough to see how things are done in all sectors of everything.
Actually, Kuwait Airways does a thorough inspection and maintenance of their planes as per international standards. The maintenance staff is a hard working and professional staff. You will be surprised to know that Jazeera Airways is the local airline that does NOT do the required maintenance because of their efforts in having their planes leave on time. Maintenance for Jazeera Airways (by the way) is done by Kuwait Airways engineers, under the supervision of Jazeera Airways who sign off on the jobs knowing that they are not complete and thorough.
That’s really sad; it was a great option (although I never took it personally, I did fly United to Bahrain). Their on-board staff is really easy to talk to.
The best option really is Etihad since they have immigration pre-clearance at the airport. In effect, you skip the long lines at NY/DC.
I have not personally tried it, but I heard that Etihad premium product is very good.
As others mentioned the KU direct to NY is also an option; but if you look at the on-time performance of the flight, it is really not that great. It is scheduled for 10 AM, but last week it took off:
14th – 1:29 PM
16th – 10:43 AM
18th – 11:12 AM
21st – 12:36 PM
🙁
how did u get those timings??
From flightware:
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/KAC117/history
Here, for comparison is the United flight (UAL981) https://flightaware.com/live/flight/UAL981/history
Oh nice didn’t know there was such a thing
Delta is stopping its flight to Dubai:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tedreed/2015/10/28/delta-air-lines-plans-halt-to-atlanta-dubai-service/?utm_campaign=yahootix&partner=yahootix
united is literally one of the worst airlines this is no loss at all.
imagine flight delay for 26 hours with no food voucher or anything?
good riddance.