Flight delay: The online spat between Kenyan socialite Vera Sidika and businesswoman and musician Akothee, and the commentary it subsequently provoked, brought several issues into sharp focus. Chief among them was a surprisingly widespread ignorance of how the aviation industry actually works.
It is striking that even seasoned travellers can hold firm opinions about an industry they understand only superficially. In many cases, attitudes appear to be shaped less by experience than by misconceptions, hearsay and information that has been only half-digested; then served with the confidence of expert testimony!
The following five observations illustrate how readily assumptions, myths, and misplaced certainty can shape public perceptions of aviation. What is often presented as an airline-specific failing is, in many cases, part of a much broader reality affecting carriers and passengers across the global travel industry.
1. Disruptions are now a feature of global air travel, not a uniquely Kenya Airways problem
Flight disruptions are an unfortunate and increasingly familiar feature of modern aviation. They are not the exclusive preserve of Kenya Airways. KLM, for instance, has suspended certain regional routes in response to localised weather conditions and shifting geopolitical circumstances. Lufthansa has repeatedly faced widespread cancellations arising from disputes involving European ground and cabin crew, with major hubs bearing the brunt of the disruption. Emirates, meanwhile, has had operations affected by significant geopolitical tensions in the region, including military escalations and intermittent airport closures across the Middle East.
The lesson is hardly comforting, but it is important: weather, industrial action, airspace restrictions, geopolitical upheaval and, as in the case of Kenya Airways, bird strikes and global supply chain constraints, can turn a carefully choreographed network into a logistical Rubik’s Cube remarkably quickly.
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2. Disruptions are felt more acutely at hubs than at spokes
Many major airlines operate a hub-and-spoke model, with a designated hub carrier taking a disproportionately large share of traffic at its principal airport. As a result, disruptions involving hub carriers are often far more visible – and far more keenly felt – by people living in or travelling through the hub than by passengers at the airline’s outlying destinations.
Take KLM at Schiphol. Because KLM is the dominant hub carrier there, disruptions affecting the airline are likely to be experienced directly and repeatedly by travellers in the Netherlands. The same principle applies in Dubai, where Emirates’ central role means that any operational disruption can have an outsized impact on passengers and residents compared with those travelling through its spoke destinations.
The same phenomenon explains the perception among some Kenyans that Kenya Airways suffers more disruptions than other airlines. For passengers travelling from Nairobi, Kenya Airways is quite naturally the airline they encounter more frequently and therefore the one whose disruptions they are most likely to notice.
But visibility is not the same as frequency. In reality, Kenya Airways experiences fewer disruptions than many of the major international carriers against which it is often compared. In some instances, the difference can be as much as tenfold. In other words, what feels like a uniquely Kenyan aviation problem may simply be a statistical illusion created by geography, traffic patterns and familiarity. The airline that is most visible when things go wrong is not necessarily the airline for which things go wrong the most often.
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3. Keep your contact details up to date
Passengers who fail to provide contact details are often the last to hear about disruptions when they occur. Airlines may have many talents but clairvoyance is not one of them; they cannot notify you if they do not know how to reach you.
If you book through a travel agent, make sure the agent provides and keeps your current email address and phone number on file with the airline you are travelling with. A disruption occurs, and you somehow learn about it after everyone else? There is a good chance that either you or your agent was simply not reachable.
In short, if the airline cannot reach you, it cannot warn you.
4. Checked-in baggage is not considered lost until 21 days have elapsed
Before that point, it is classified as delayed or misplaced. Such delays can arise for a variety of reasons, including flight-route adjustments necessitated by adverse weather conditions. These changes may require the aircraft to carry additional fuel, with the corresponding increase in weight sometimes offset by offloading baggage and placing it on the next available flight.
Baggage can also be delayed through the most human of errors: a passenger may inadvertently pick up a bag that closely resembles one of their own, creating a rather unfortunate game of musical chairs for luggage. Until the matter is resolved, the bag may be recorded as delayed rather than lost.
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For context, the global average for mishandled baggage stands at approximately 5.6 bags per 100 passengers. Kenya Airways, by comparison, records approximately 2.6 bags per 100 passengers, comfortably below the global average and therefore a comparatively strong performance.
5. Get travel insurance
Travel insurance is one of those purchases you hope never to use – and would be profoundly grateful for if you did. It is worth it.
Delays, cancellations, missed connections and misplaced or lost baggage are not merely plot twists in travel stories; they are unfortunate realities of modern air travel. Compensation for some of these inconveniences is governed by international rules such as the Montreal Convention, while jurisdictions such as the European Union provide for mandatory compensation in certain circumstances, including qualifying long flights.
Travel insurance, however, goes several steps further. For a fraction of the cost of your ticket, a good policy can cover delays, cancellations, missed flights, emergency accommodation, medical treatment for sudden illnesses and other unforeseen expenses. In the most difficult circumstances, it may even cover the repatriation of a passenger’s remains if they die away from home.
In short, travel insurance may seem like an unnecessary expense when everything goes according to plan. But travel, as it has a mischievous habit of reminding us, does not always consult the plan.
