Has anyone every flown with Kuwait Airways before? Got any good or bad reports?

Hi,

I've travelled from Dubai to kuwait with kuwaiti airways.

Err.. the flight itself was okay. Food's rather err.. crap. Second time I travelled first class and sitting up front, I could hear the slight high pitched hum of the engines most of the way through. But it was okay really. Got me there and back.

On my way there, I got to sit next to a good looking egyptian in a suit that the air-hostess was completely enamoured with. Regardless to say, I got no service as she couldn't take her eyes of him. And he got to try all the menus on offer to confirm what we both suspected - that they were all not very good. On my way back in first class, they were all really friendly. The ticket difference was only 35 kwd, so it's worth it.

Are you travelling to kuwait? Just a warning about the check-in counters in kuwait airport on your way out of there. It's market-place. Get there nice and early and hopefully it isn't crowded. There are no "real" queues for check-in. Once you get closer to the front, you realise that at times, there is a rush for everyone to put their bags onto the conveyor check-in belt. It's quite an experience.

Oh, and be on the safe side, do reconfirm your tickets 3 days before the date. This airline still has "waiting lists" and there are actually queues at the check-in areas to fill in spaces that are left empty due to no-shows.

Also do avoid the women at the check-in desk. This is a long story, but both myself and a friend (two different check-in ladies, two different times) decided that they didn't like our visa or lack of visa for our on-going trip.

For me it was the fact that I was returning back to switzerland and though Australians don't need VISAs to enter CH, she had to query as to why I was going there "on a one-way ticket". No amount of proof I could show her (ticket was part of a return journey back, ticket was bought and paid for and issued in switzerland) could convince her straight-away. It was just madness. On top of that, I was travelling with swiss airways from Dubai to Zurich and it really wasn't her concern about my VISA requirements for switzerland. Needless to say, she finally decided to check me in only to realise that my seat was gone - I was a no-show?. When I changed my ticket at the kuwaiti airways office in kuwait city, I opted to may extra for the first class. I wasn't going to "stand in line" at the check-in desk again.

Apparently kuwaiti airways check-in desks seem to be "famous" for this sorts of issues. I was part of a swiss team working in Kuwait and we made many many trips back and forth between us and it seemed that it was just one or two personalities (both women) that had this problem.

Have fun. Kuwait's okay really.

-- Nanda.

nanda,

FYI,

It is the airline's business as to your VISA requirements. If they get you to Zurich and the authorities there refuse you entry, they will HAVE to take you back and since there is no guarantee of payment, you could see why airlines are little concerned about flying you for free. So every time you check-in at any place in the world for international flight, the ticket agent is told by the computer what you need to have and s/he has to check it before issuing a boarding pass.

Forgot to add that I'm pretty sure that the immigration services of the destination country charge the airlines penalty for each refusal of entry.

AAFrequentFlyer

Hi,

I am aware of that. The point was that it would've been up to Swiss/Dubai authorities to check those VISA requirements. Things are checked fairly thoroughly in Dubai when you collect your boarding pass. Kuwaiti airways only delivers me to Dubai where no one I think has a problem with VISA since you just buy one when you get there.

In any case, it was how the whole thing was handled. Two supervisors, couldn't convince this woman to check me in either since she was convinced she was right and they didn't know anything.

But you're right, it's up to the airlines to take you back to either where you come from or your home country and they also incur a big fine.

One way out of this according to my Indian colleage (apparently he needs a visa to go to most places) is to pay a deposit to the airline in case they need to send you back home.

The last time I flew Kuwati airlines was 3 years ago, from Hong Kong to Kuwait and back. Service was fine, but FYI it was a SMOKING flight, which I was not aware of until I checked in and was asked if I wanted smoking or non-smoking. There were a lot of smokers on the plane, as people take this and other middle eastern airlines specifically because smoking is permitted.

You might want to check their website to see if they still offer smoking.